News Escobar ’24 Again Wins Hartwick College’s Annual Anna Sonder Poetry Prize

January 19, 2023

The Hartwick College Department of Department of Literature, Media, and Writing is pleased to announce that, for the second year in a row, Sofia Escobar ’24 has won the 2022–23 Anna Sonder Prize for Poetry from the Academy of American Poets. Escobar took home the top prize for her poem, “Poesis.” Honorable Mention was awarded to Paige Eaton ’23 for her poem, “The Itaewon Tragedy Was a Pentadecagon.”

This year’s Anna Sonder Prize competition, the 44th, attracted 31 poems from 10 Hartwick students. Judging this year’s competition were Associate Professor of Literature, Media, and Writing Bradley J. Fest and Assistant Professor of Literature, Media, and Writing Tessa Yang.

Otto Sonder, late professor emeritus of sociology, endowed a prize in 1978 for the best poem written by a student at Hartwick College, to be awarded annually by the College under the auspices of the Academy of American Poets in New York City. Hartwick is a permanent member of AAP, which was founded in 1934 and is the largest organization in the country dedicated to advancing the art of poetry. To fulfill this mission, the Academy administers a wide variety of programs, including the college prize program, which comprises Hartwick College’s Anna Sonder Prize. The prize honors the memory of Sonder’s mother, who died in 1978.

“I am incredibly thankful for this honor and the opportunity to share my work with everyone,” said Escobar. “I cannot thank my family, friends, and professors enough for their support, as well as their encouragement to push myself to new levels in writing.”

The College will recognize Escobar and Eaton at the 2023 Honors Convocation ceremony. Escobar’s poem will be published by the Academy of American Poets and both poems will appear in the 2023 issue of the College literary magazine, Word of Mouth.

 

You can read Escobar’s winning entry here.

Eaton’s full submission can be read here.

For additional information on the Sonder Prize, contact Fest at 607-431-4921 or festb@hartwick.edu.