The 2026 A.R. Ammons Poetry Prize -
Finalist Judge - Crystal Simone Smith
Congratulations to the twenty finalists from 300 excellent poems that were submitted!
The Winners are:
First Place : Count Your Children by Dudley Stone
Second Place: A Poem Written by Hands by Daniel McGinn
Third Place: Tergiveration by Alicia Mazzurra
Cash prizes will be awarded to these three poems, and all finalists will receive a contributor's copy.
Judge's Comment:
There were many profound poems submitted and selecting one is often a tall task for judges. What I value most in a well-achieved poem is the emotional weight, by that I mean what's at stake. While imagery and lyricism are pivotal to any poem, what resonates most is how the speaker develops in the undertaking. That is what the reader can cling to, the triumphs, fails, or resolves. "Count Your Children" is reminiscent of a kind of prayer, one in which the ask is universal. We have all been either parent or child, growth occurring simultaneous in both roles while society hands us what it will. Perhaps, this poem is also a guide for keeping order in a chaotic world. Parenthood is to gain and lose. That remains a beautiful and brutal truth—and in our nation, the stakes are quite high. "Count Your Children" examines these facts and varied fates with striking clarity.
Judge's Bio:
Crystal Simone Smith is an award-winning poet and educator. She is the author of Runagate: Songs of the Freedom Bound (Duke University Press, 2025), winner of the Roanoke-Chowan Poetry Award, and Dark Testament (Henry Holt, 2023). In 2022, her collection of haiku, Ebbing Shore, won The Haiku Foundation Touchstone Distinguished Book Award. Smith is the recipient of a Duke Humanities Unbounded Fellowship. Her work has appeared in numerous journals including POETRY Magazine, Harper's Magazine, Rattle, and Modern Haiku. She teaches in the Thompson Writing Program at Duke University and writes poetry about the human condition and social change.