{"id":6514,"date":"2025-02-27T20:41:32","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T01:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anovelapproach.ca\/submission_calendar\/?post_type=tribe_events&p=6514"},"modified":"2025-02-27T20:41:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T01:41:55","slug":"p-the-2025-hurt-healing-prize-theme-hurt-healing","status":"publish","type":"tribe_events","link":"https:\/\/anovelapproach.ca\/submission_calendar\/event\/p-the-2025-hurt-healing-prize-theme-hurt-healing\/","title":{"rendered":"P – The 2025 Hurt & Healing Prize. Theme: Hurt & Healing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Healing begins when someone bears witness. I saw you. I believe you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As poets, we begin our journey by bearing witness. Poetry is the language of observation and we often see signs and symbols in the world that others overlook. But we can\u2019t always stay on the sidelines\u2014sometimes life throws us into the world before we\u2019re ready, which can lead to undue harm. We all feel pain, but the question then becomes:\u00a0What can we do with it?<\/em><\/p>\n

The quote above is from Olivia Benson, protagonist of\u00a0Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,\u00a0<\/em>played by Mariska Hargitay. The link between this television show and our poetry contest might not be obvious, but Hargitay not only bears witness in her twenty-five year run as Detective Olivia Benson, she commits to protect the most vulnerable among us and fosters a space for healing as well. Her dedication is admirable, and we at\u00a0Frontier\u00a0<\/em>are making the same promise. Let\u2019s not forget that the word \u201cpoem\u201d comes from the Greek word for \u201ccreate.\u201d It\u2019s not just about seeing or believing, it\u2019s about what you make from \u00a0what you\u2019ve seen and what you\u2019ve learned.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Hurt & Healing Prize is about expressing our pain, but it\u2019s also about celebrating all we have overcome. It is also a call to action\u2014an invitation to support each other in the darkest times. We may feel as if the path forward isn\u2019t clear\u2014but as a community, we answer these questions together.
\nFurther reading for inspiration can be found here:<\/p>\n

\u201cAm I Going to Kill My Daughter\u201d | The Poetry Foundation<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/a>Grief\u201d | The Poetry Foundation<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cArthritis is one thing, the hurting another\u201d by Camille T. Dungy – Poems | Academy of American Poets<\/a><\/p>\n

The first place winner will receive $3,000 and publication. Second- and third-place winners will receive $300 and $200 respectively, as well as publication.
\nAbout Our Judge:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robert Wood Lynn is a poet from Virginia. He is the author of the collection\u00a0Mothman Apologia<\/em>\u00a0(Yale University Press, 2022) and the chapbook\u00a0How to Maintain Eye Contact\u00a0<\/em>(Button Poetry, 2023). He is the recipient of the 2021 Yale Younger Poets Prize, the 2023 Kate Tufts Discovery Award, and a 2023 NEA Creative Writing Fellowship. His work has been featured in\u00a0American Poetry Review<\/em>,\u00a0The Atlantic<\/em>,\u00a0POETRY<\/em>,\u00a0The Yale Review<\/em>, and other publications. He teaches poetry at Juilliard and Brooklyn Poets.<\/p>\n

What our judge is looking for:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am honored to be asked to jury\u00a0Frontier<\/em>\u2019s poetry contest themed on hurt and healing, because so much of the work of poetry happens in this space of change\u2014hurt and healing not simply or even necessarily as subject but as experience, since that is what a poem is: an experience rather than a recounting. I am interested in poems that wound us gently, or that restore something inside us, or both. Poems that help us reach the interior and emotional spaces no other medium could. That let language work indirectly, through image, metaphor, surprise, and play, to accomplish things impossible in straightforward retelling.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Guidelines:<\/strong><\/p>\n