Winners of 2020 Poetry Translation Competition Announced

Thank you to everyone who participated! The quality of submitted translations continues to rise.

First Place ($100 Prize): Margaret Coats, California
Three Translations of the Poetry of Jean Froissart

Second Place: Terry L. Norton, South Carolina
Five Translations of Aesop’s Fables, from Phaedrus

Third Place: Anna Leader, Washington, D.C.
“The Lorelei” by Heinrich Heine

Third Place: Michael Coy, Ireland
A Poem by Michelangelo, “The Woman Who Passed Me” by Charles Baudelaire

Fourth Place: Luigi Pagano, England”
“Ode scritta in occasione delle rivoluzioni di Modena e Bologna” by Giovanni Berchet

Fourth Place: Tanya Fernandez Escudero, Spain
“Black Shadow” by Rosalía de Castro

Fourth Place: Vicki Schnadig, Texas
“Tamara” by M. Lermontov

Honorable Mention: Scott Dalgarno, Utah
Sonnet After Catullus #4

Honorable Mention: Stevie Preater
“The Pirate’s Song” by José de Espronceda

Judge

Margaret Coats on ‘Like a Book’: A Spenserian Sonnet by Jeffrey EssmannOctober 27, 2025
A model Spenserian sonnet, Jeffrey. Each quatrain is a complete sentence, yet the Spenserian rhyme scheme carries the thought smoothly…
Roy Eugene Peterson on ‘Like a Book’: A Spenserian Sonnet by Jeffrey EssmannOctober 27, 2025
Jeffrey, you packed some beautiful timeless thoughts into your Spenserian sonnet offering hope to those who lean on the everlasting…
Joseph S. Salemi on ‘Like a Book’: A Spenserian Sonnet by Jeffrey EssmannOctober 27, 2025
This is a good example of the 17th-century "conceit,'" or strange and extended metaphor that dominates the poem from start…
Margaret Coats on ‘Lotus’: A Poem by Margaret CoatsOctober 27, 2025
The lotus is a sensational symbol, especially in Asia. The idea that "every heart conceals a lotus bud" comes from…
Joseph S. Salemi on ‘A Pindaric Ode to Accuracy’ by Eric v.d. LuftOctober 27, 2025
This is Pindaric in style -- the easygoing flow, the thoughtful commentary, and (in the first stanza) the lengthy sentence.…