Earlier this year, Kamolnick Kreative sponsored one of Poetry Society of Tennessee’s 65th Annual Festival and Contest poetry contests. Dubbed the “…But I Know What I Like” Award, the contest asked poets to write an ekphrastic poem. The photo, “No Escape,” (feature photo) was provided, but it was not a strict requirement to write a poem to it. A blind-judged contest, Howard Carman’s poem, “Mann Gulch, 1949” stood out.

I’m excited to announce all of the contest winners:

• 1st place: Howard Carman, Jr., for “Mann Gulch, 1949”
• 2nd place: Terry Jude Miller, for “Bringing in the Maple Sugar”
• 3rd place: Budd Mahan, for “Her Violet Eyes”
• 1HM: Steven Leitch, for “A Townsman of Bergen”
• 2HM: Jerri Hardesty, for “Inescapable”
• 3HM: Lori Goetz, for Rose-Colored Limbo

Howard is a fellow member of Poetry Society of Tennessee’s Northeast Chapter. He serves as Chapter Treasurer and Membership Chair and serves the state society in various capacities as well. His poem “Mann Gulch, 1949” connected both to the photograph and a timely topic–forest fire fighting–but set in a different time. It will be published in an upcoming edition of Tennessee Voices, an anthology of the society’s contest winners.

Learn more about Poetry Society of Tennessee (PST), PST-Northeast Chapter, and see the full list of their PST’s 65th annual contests and winners. PST is a member of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. Almost all of the annual contests are open to non-members, so mark your calendar and give it a try!