Sundress Publications is thrilled to announce the results of the 2025 Poetry Broadside Contest judged by Stevie Edwards. This year’s winner is Shahé Mankerian with the poem “Hangman.” Mankerian’s poem will be letterpress-printed as an 8.5″ x 11″ broadside and will be made available for sale in our online store. Orders for our broadside will open this fall.
Shahé Mankerian is the principal and 8th grade English teacher at St. Gregory Hovsepian School in Pasadena, California, and serves as Director of Mentorship at the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA). In 2026, he became the Poet Laureate of Altadena, where he will serve a two-year term. With a rich background in education and the arts, he previously co-directed the Los Angeles Writing Project and received the BRAVO Award from the Los Angeles Music Center for his innovative contributions to arts education.
In 2021, Mankerian’s debut poetry collection, History of Forgetfulness, was published by Fly on the Wall Press in the United Kingdom. History of Forgetfulness (2021) chronicles a childhood in Lebanon during its civil war. Both The Los Angeles Review and The Los Angeles Review of Books have highlighted his work for its blend of innocence and intense brutality. The collection was a semifinalist for the Khayrallah Prize and a finalist for several notable awards, including the Bibby First Book Competition, the Crab Orchard Poetry Open Competition, the Julie Suk Award, the Quercus Review Press Poetry Book Award, and the White Pine Press Poetry Prize. His poems have appeared widely in literary journals.
This year’s contest judge is Stevie Edwards. Dr. Stevie Edwards is an Assistant Professor at Clemson University and Poetry Editor of The South Carolina Review. Stevie’s poems have appeared in Poetry, American Poetry Review, TriQuarterly, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of Quiet Armor (Northwestern University Press, 2023), Sadness Workshop (Button Poetry, 2018), Humanly (Small Doggies Press, 2015), and Good Grief (Write Bloody Publishing, 2012). Her next book, The Weather Inside, is forthcoming from the University of Arkansas Press in Spring 2026 as part of the Miller Williams Poetry Series edited by Patricia Smith. She holds a PhD from the University of North Texas and an MFA from Cornell University. Originally a Michigander, she now lives in South Carolina with her spouse and a small herd of rescue pitbulls.
Runner-up:
“2005 Bildungsroman” by Trina Young
Finalists:
“Peacock” by Aidan Aragon
“Retail Therapy Sonnet” by Carolee Bennett
“Riddle” by Martins Deep
“Nightly Drill” by Damaris King
“The Gifts of a Very Old Dog” by Virginia LeBaron
“Show & Tell” by Shahé Mankerian
“I Think a Pidgeon Tattoo Might Fix Me” by Nicole Shepherd
“In my room I plait my hair” by Ludmila White
