5th Annual Carmen Ziolkowski Poetry Prize
In the spirit of beloved Sarnia poet Carmen Ziolkowski, The Lawrence House Literary Arts Committee is again seeking well-crafted poetry that is heartfelt, nature-based, and hopeful for the fifth annual Carmen Ziolkowski Poetry Prize. The deadline is May 15, 2026.
With generous support from the Ziolkowski family, this year’s first prize is $500. Second prize is $250, and third prize is $100, with selected Honourable Mentions.
Carmen Ziolkowski was born near Naples, Italy, in 1924, and immigrated to Canada in 1955. She studied journalism at Port Huron Junior College and taught creative writing at Lambton College. Her books of poetry include Roses Bloom at Dusk (Vesta Publications), World of Dreams (River City Press), and The Moon Before the Sun (Beret Days Press).
She and her husband Bruno had two sons, Robin and Jim, and three grandchildren, Alexandra, Nicholas, and Samantha. She loved her family, nature, travel, and literature. A vibrant member of the Sarnia-Lambton writing community, Carmen passed away on December 26, 2018, at the age of 94.
Carmen’s friends and fellow writers Ryan Gibbs, Rhonda Melanson, and Lois Nantais are delighted to serve again as judges for the poetry prize. Judging will be blind.
Ryan Gibbs is a Communications professor at Lambton College who has published over fifty poems, in nine countries. His poems inspired by Carmen include “Do Not Bring Me Flowers (for Carmen)” in Subterranean Blue Poetry and “The House of Four Winds,” Honourable Mention in the Association of Italian Canadian Writers’ Venera Fazio Poetry Contest.
Rhonda Melanson is a retired teacher with the Lambton Kent District School Board. She graduated from Queen’s University’s Artist in The Community Education program. Rhonda has had many poems published in print and online journals and is the author of two chapbooks: Gracenotes (Beret Days Press) and My Name Is Mary (Alien Buddha Press).
Lois Nantais is a poet and the creative force behind My Father’s Pond, a lavender farm where she cultivates both plants and stories. Her writing explores the healing and seasonal rhythms of rural life. She shares these reflections on her blog and in her forthcoming Lavender Dreams Journal, a contemplative guide that invites readers into moments of beauty and grounding. Her poems have been published in Lummox, Tamaracks, Ascent Aspirations, and Room Magazine.
Winning works in this year’s poetry prize will be featured in a special issue of The Lawrence House’s Uproar Literary Blog. A spoken word event to honour Carmen and past winners is planned for August 7.
Entry fees are $10 (for three poems), $5 for members of The Lawrence House Centre for the Arts.
If you wish to become a member of The Lawrence House Centre for the Arts, please visit:
https://lawrencehouse.ca/become-a-member/
Entry form and payment information on this page below.
5th Annual Carmen Ziolkowski Poetry Prize Entry Form
4th Annual Carmen Zielkowski Award Winners
4th Annual Carmen Ziolkowski Poetry Prize Winners
For the fourth annual Carmen Ziolkowski Poetry Prize, First Prize, $500, donated by Carmen’s family, was awarded to Don Narkevic, a poet from Buckhannon, West Virginia. Narkevic’s compelling poem on craftsmanship and ancestry in “Emerging Stone” resonated with the judges. Jim Ziolkowski remarked, “I think this would bring my mother back to Italy and the
Emerging Stone
Like Father’s unfinished life, the half-dressed donated stone stands in the farm’s front yard true as an oak. A traveling mason settles for pasta and peas at the family cemetery. The youngest daughter whispers Father’s name in his hairy ear like a sad girlhood secret, her tears pooling like stars in his chip-pitted cheek. Later,
The Garden’s Quiet Song
In the quiet of the morning, I dig my hands into the earth, lettuce leaves stretch to the sun, garlic bulbs whisper beneath the soil. Onions peek through, a humble promise, Roma tomatoes blush with summer heat, cucumbers curl, hidden in the green. Basil stretches its arms toward the sky, while thyme and oregano weave
When Irises Bloom
in springtime, the earth rumbles and the sun-kissed soil begins to stir slender leaves suddenly begin wriggling their way to the surface, eager to drink misty raindrops and bask in the balmy air and I wait, with anticipation for the sturdy stems that will rise in the days to come, sprouting their bearded petals of
Flowers In Blue Vase
This blue vase So rough to the touch Beneath my fingertips The leaves are velvet tongues Still life of zinnias Daffodils and marigolds Arrange the view On blue linen tablecloth Outside Behind the window pane Dreamscapes glisten The earth beckons Beyond the cultivated fields To chance our way Through groves of thickest darkness See the
Looking at the Bed In Candlelight
brittle snow countless needles dropping today I knit up sad and black into a sweater would not stay folded in the drawer how can a body stitched with bone fit in this? stretched, bed’s length all night weedy symbols root in the mind in the dirt outside under snow broken nails, pins are growing into