[Catherine Chandler]

I just had to share the news with fellow Spherians. My sonnet, "Singularities", has been chosen by David Middleton as one of the twelve finalists in this year's Howard Nemerov Sonnet competition. I can't believe I made it to the finals two years in a row!

Richard Wakefield won with his "Petrarch". Congratulations, Richard!

Thanks to all who critiqued "Singularities" in The Deep End, though the final version sent to Evansville was slightly different.

Riding on Cloud Nine,
Cathy

[Christopher Whitby]

Congratulations Cathy, and to Richard too of course. As Nemerov news seems to be out, I can say that I too received a very pleasing email from Evansville to indicate that 'Check-Up' was a finalist, not that it's been seen anywhere except round a few close friends. These days we live in such a techno goldfish bowl, one almost wonders if sending a poem by email to a friend will be considered 'publication'. I do hope it was never caught on a security camera!

I too am 'on a cloud', although as this was my first attempt at the Nemerov (it's finding the dollar cash in such small amounts in the UK that's a bit of a barrier), I propose to change altitude to being 'under the table' later.

Chris

[Marion Shore]

Congrats to Richard! And Cathy, and Christopher, who got it on the first pop!

I'm in there too, with "West End Bar 1986" which debuted here.

Any other suspects? Come on, you know who you are!

[Michael Cantor]

I'm there as well, with The Pundit, workshopped here last year. Congratulations to Richard (who is also a Wilbur winner) and all.

This is the second time in five years that the winning title has involved Petrarch - Marion's Petrarch on West 115th Street was the 2005 winner, and then Richard cut to the chase - - and there has to be a message there. I'm working on I Heard Her Name Was Laura But She Never Heard My Heart Break for next year's competition.

[FOsen]

My congratulations to everyone - from what you've said of the winner and finalists, it appears Mr. Middleton has made some great selections. I'll have a sonnet in the appearing in the same issue of the ER, but I didn't make the Nemerovs this year.

Frank

[Maryann Corbett]

Frank, I'm confused--the Nemerov winner and finalists appear in Measure, don't they, rather than the Evansville Review? Where will we see your poem?

(This question is my only excuse for appearing on this thread, as I definitely haven't heard that I'm in this august group )

Many congratulations to all of you!

[Gail White]

Just wanted to add my congratulations to all of you!

Looking on the bright side, I now have a sonnet freed up to send somewhere else...

[Susan McLean]

Congratulations, Richard, Cathy, Christopher, Marion, and Michael! It is wonderful to see so many Eratospherians among the winners again. That's nearly half of the finalists right there. Way to go!

Susan

[Michael Cantor]

Congrats as well to my Powow buddy and former Spherian Len Krisak, who is also a finalist.

[Julie Steiner]

Woo-hoo! After eight years of submitting to this contest (plus about four years of intermittent sulking along the way) I finally made the finalist cut! And with a sonnet I almost didn't send in at all ("Dies Irae", the one in which N is singing at her first funeral), because I thought the other two I sent in were so much stronger, and I was sorely tempted to save that extra $3 entry fee...

I'm very grateful for the four pages of valuable comments (mostly about the final couplet) that current and former Spherians gave me when I workshoped "Dies Irae" last spring. Not that I ended up taking your advice, exactly, but you definitely pointed me in the right direction.

Warm congratulations to Richard, Cathy, Christopher (on the first try! I'm impressed!), Marion, Michael, and Len (whom I am still calling Les after all these years, sigh)! Plus any others yet to share their good news, of course.

And encouragement to all of this year's also-rans!