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Shō Poetry Journal

Established in 2002, revived in 2023

Prize Winners

Beginning with our Winter 2024/25 issue, Shō No. 6, the editors award prizes to poems published in each issue. For more details, see The Sita Martin Prize and The Shō Poetry Prize.

Shō No. 7: Summer 2025

A girl in a long white dress and a bird head mask sits on a bough under a full moon in a night forest landscape. Her hands are folded in her lap and her feet can't be seen. Text says: Shō Poetry Journal No. 7 Summer 2025.
A black-and-white photo of a Black man gazing up to the right. His face is bathed in light, his gaze is soft, and he wears a turtleneck sweater.

Winner of the Sita Martin Prize

Ohia, Ernest Chigaemezu

“somehow”

Black and white photograph of a woman with short hair wearing a dress.

Sita Martin Prize Runner-Up

Nina C. Peláez

“Doubt”

A photo of Christian J. Collier, a Black Poet, wearing a red t-shirt, grey blazer, and off-white flat cap. He is looking directly into the camera.

Winner of the Shō Poetry Prize

Christian J. Collier

“Nocturne”

A person with short, reddish-brown hair & a neatly trimmed goatee wears a black beret & a black sweater, standing among leafless branches.

Shō Poetry Prize Runner-Up

Aldo Amparán

“Symptoms of Ghosts”

Shō No. 6: Winter 2024/25

Winner of the Sita Martin Prize

Maja Lukic

“Your Mother Knew Many Words for Beauty and Used All of Them to Call you”

Sita Martin Prize Runner-Up

Ranudi Gunawardena

“Girl Cousins, Pixelated”

Black and white: A mixed-race white-Japanese man in contemplation by a sunny window. He wears a collared print shirt and a pair of glasses perched on his nose.

Winner of the Shō Poetry Prize

Robert Okaji

“The Starlings Were You”

Shō Poetry Prize Runner-Up

Bunkong Tuon

“Wanting Kids”