Announcing the award recipients of Hayden’s Ferry Review’s Indigenous Poets Prize
The Indigenous Poets Prize is a collaboration with the Center for Imagination in the Borderlands (CIB), Red Ink Journal, Thousand Languages Project, and the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing. We accepted poetry submissions in youth and adult categories, Arizona-based and nationally-based, from writers who demonstrated a commitment to Indigenous communities. We defined ‘commitment’ as those who advocate for Indigenous communities, have personal experience with/within these communities, or contribute in some capacity to supporting Indigenous communities.
The contest’s initial readers were Lindsey Curley, Amber McCrary, Taté Walker, and James Blasingame of Red Ink Journal. Our final judge was Natalie Diaz, the director of the Center for the Imagination in the Borderlands.
We are thrilled to share the award recipients of our inaugural Indigenous Poets Prize selected by Natalie Diaz!
Youth (National): “I Am From,…” by Acacia Armstrong
Youth (Arizona): “Brown” by Raine Huelskamp and “The House of Forgotten Memories” by Denzhone Burdette
Adult (National): “i saw my life without you and it was beautiful” by Emily Clarke and “When Her Body Is A Battleground” by Kimberly Blaeser
Adult (Arizona): “Deer Tracks” by Ramona Gutierrez and “Land is a Body is a Religion⇰” by Chris Hoshnic
We also want to thank everyone who submitted to our contest, including our finalists: Oladejo Abdullah, Derriuhna Coleman, Evelyn Yao, Leonardo Chung, Adesiyan Oluwapelumi, Aimee Inglis, Kachina Yeager, Danielle Emerson, Sergio Duenas, Owen Oliver, Joshua Hinson, Roanna Shebala, Megan McDermott, John Kucera, Bridget Bravo, and Angellisa Hoffman.
All award recipients will be published online in HFR’s The Dock as well as appear in the next HFR print issue (expected Fall/Winter 2023). Recipients will also receive $300 and during the 2023-2024 academic year, their poems will be translated by Thousand Languages interns and appear as a special folio on the TLP database the following year.
Join us in celebrating the inaugural award recipients on Wednesday, September 27th at 5:30 pm PST/8:30 EST! The event will feature the awardees and contest judge, Natalie Diaz. Register here http://tinyurl.com/nhadwfem.