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Announcing the Winners of the RockPaperPoem Poetry Prize

RockPaperPoem is thrilled to announce the winners of our 2026 Poetry Prize, judged with great care and insight by Michael Kleber-Diggs. We’re deeply grateful for the time, thoughtfulness, and generosity he brought to reading every submission. His dedication to this prize elevated the entire experience for all involved.

Please join us in congratulating this remarkable group of poets. We’re honored to share their work with our readers, and we thank everyone who submitted to this year’s prize—the quality and depth of submissions made this a truly difficult decision.

WINNER

Jillian Stacia — “Middle Age and the Multiverse”

Jillian Stacia is the author of the bestselling poetry collection, Set the Bone, published by Arcana Poetry Press. She was selected as an Honorable Mention for the 2025 Jack McCarthy Book Prize and shortlisted for the 2026 Central Avenue Poetry Prize. She has been nominated for several awards, including Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. Her poetry has been featured in several literary magazines and anthologies. Find her online @jillianstacia to read more of her work.

FIRST RUNNER UP

Dagne Forrest — “On Concision”

Dagne Forrest is a Canadian poet with recent work in Rogue Agent, Funicular Magazine, Tar River Poetry, Prism International, The New Quarterly, and Rust + Moth. She was selected as a finalist in the 2025 Marvin Bell Memorial Poetry Prize by Maggie Smith. Dagne belongs to Painted Bride Quarterly’s senior editorial and podcast teams. Her chapbooks include Un/becoming (Baseline Press, 2025) and Falldown Lane (Whittle Micropress, 2026).

SECOND RUNNER UP

Tori Grant Welhouse — “Barn”

Tori Grant Welhouse is a Wisconsin poet and writer. Her newest poetry chapbook is Padding Loamy on a Brew of Earth from Bottlecap Press. Her other chapbooks include Vaginas Need Air, winner of the 2020 Etchings Press Chapbook Contest, and Canned published by Finishing Line Press. She also written a YA fantasy novel, The Fergus, winner of the inaugural Skyrocket Press Novel Writing Contest. Most recently, her poems have been published in the Midwest Review, Red Ogre Review, and RockPaperPoem. She has been nominated for Best of the Net and a Pushcart Prize. For more information, visit www.torigrantwelhouse.com. 

HONORABLE MENTION

Melody Wilson — “Matriline”

Melody Wilson’s poetry appears in Rust and Moth, One, B O D Y, Gyroscope, and other publications. Her first collection, Madre Dura, was the 2025 winner of the Paul Nemser Prize from Lily Poetry Review. She lives in Portland, Oregon. Find more of her work at melodywilson.com.

HONORABLE MENTION

Jane Ann Fuller — “For My Brother, Gone Nearly A Year”

Jane Ann Fuller’s Half-Life (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions) was named a finalist for the 16th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards. A recipient of the James Boatwright III Poetry Prize, Fuller’s poetry appears in Anacapa Review, Blue Earth Review, B O D Y, Calyx, Cimarron Review (forthcoming), Grist, Hunger Mountain, JMWW, Main Street Rag, One Art, On The Seawall, RockPaperPoem, Shenandoah, Still, Sugar House Review, SWWIM, The Ekphrastic Review, The MacGuffin, Trampoline (forthcoming), Triggerfish Critical Review, Verse Daily, Waccamaw, and in the anthologies All We Know of Pleasure: Poetic Erotica by Women and Women of Appalachia Project. Fuller earned her MFA from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop.

HONORABLE MENTION

Karl Sherlock — “Paleolithic”

Karl Sherlock, a Fulbright alumnus, Academy of American Poets Prize winner, and twice-listed Best of the Net finalist, writes poetry that explores intersections of queerness, ecopoetics, disability, conflict, and suffering. His work appears in a variety of journals and anthologies, including Broken Lens, Cathexis Northwest, Limehawk, Neologism, New Feathers, Panoply, RockPaperPoem, Stoneboat, Sunshine Noir III, Third Street, West Trade Review, and others. An online college English professor, Karl is disabled and lives in El Cajon, California, with his parrot, Bubo, and his chronically ill husband, Max, for whom he is a round-the-clock palliative caregiver.