It is with great excitement that we announce the winning poems in the 2025 Kim Bridgford Memorial Sonnet Contest: Individual Sonnet winner “Slowing Time” by Erica Reid, and Sonnet Crown winner “Night” by Rick Mullin. They each will be awarded a prize of $500 and are invited to read the pieces in May at Poetry by the Sea 2025.
The winning individual sonnet and sonnet crown will appear on the Poetry by the Sea website, viewable at http://poetrybytheseaconference.org/contests.
As we announce the winners, we do so with gratitude to Austin Allen for serving as the contest’s final judge, as well as to all the writers whose enthusiasm made this contest possible through their submission of traditional sonnets and artful variations that pushed the boundaries of the form. Thank you for submitting your fine work. The competition was stiff, and all submissions were judged anonymously.
Please join us in congratulating the winners, as well the poets whose impressive work made the shortlist!
INDIVIDUAL SONNET
FIRST PRIZE: “Slowing Time” by Erica Reid
Erica Reid is the author of Ghost Man on Second, winner of the Donald Justice Poetry Prize (Autumn House Press, 2024). Erica’s poems appear in Rattle, Cherry Tree, Colorado Review, and more. Visit her at ericareidpoet.com.
Praise for the winning sonnet, “Slowing Time”: In a field full of strong contenders, “Slowing Time” stood out for its combination of ingenuity and melancholy. The poem starts with an utterly contemporary remark—”My husband is a podcast guy”—and ends up brooding on a “hurt” as vast as time itself. It’s expansive, yet economical; its only repetitive phrases (“the length of days”…”our day-long cycles longer”) slyly illustrate the elasticity of time. It plays wittily with the sonnet form: the “turn” turns into a comment on the way “the world turns,” while the ending, which breaks off just before the word “break,” both completes the form and leaves it incomplete. None of this is mere cleverness for its own sake. The poem radiates a genuine sadness, born of the climate crisis but also linked, perhaps, to the speaker’s marriage. I know I’ll be revisiting it in future “hours” and “years,” no matter how far the world spins off its groove.
–Austin Allen, Judge
Shortlist: Individual Sonnets
“Slowing Time” by Erica Reid (FIRST PLACE WINNER)
“Echo” by Jean L . Kreiling (HONORABLE MENTION)
“Medea’s Friends” by Gail White (HONORABLE MENTION)
“Solar Eclipse, in a Time of War” by Jehanne Dubrow
“’The Walk’ Sonnet” by Kathleen McClung
“Selfie” by Eric McHenry
SONNET CROWN
FIRST PRIZE: “Night” by Rick Mullin
Rick Mullin is a painter and writer living in northern New Jersey. His poetry has appeared in various journals and anthologies including American Arts Quarterly, The New Criterion, Measure, The Raintown Review, Epiphany, Bad Lillies, Unsplendid, and Rabbit Ears: TV Poems. His books include Soutine (Dos Madres, 2012), Sonnets from the Voyage of the Beagle (Dos Madres, 2014), Lullaby and Wheel (Kelsay Books, 2019), Huncke (second edition, Exot Books 2021). His new collection, Grotesque Singers, was published by Dos Madres this year. His paintings are in collections in the U.S., Canada, England, Germany, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, the British Virgin Islands and Australia.
Praise for the winning sonnet crown: “Night” has many things going for it: rollicking energy, vivid atmosphere, a first-rate dildo joke, and a heart. In twelve stanzas, the poem summons up a small yet unforgettable world—a fever dream of heavy-metal rockers, scenesters, “louche seraphim,” all-too-patient girlfriends, and drummers who “come and go” (think Prufrock or Spinal Tap). The speaker knows this world well and casts an affectionate eye on its hopes and failures. The result is part Rilke, part road trip, and part shaggy-dog story. The stage smoke may be phony, but the tears are real. As for the “crown,” it’s right there in the first sonnet, on the head of a dude named Caliban. Like everything in the poem, it’s either wickedly funny or poignant, depending on your angle as an audience member.
–Austin Allen, Judge
Shortlist: Sonnet Crowns
“Night” by Rick Mullin (FIRST PRIZE WINNER)
“Smokejumper” by Forester McClatchey (HONORABLE MENTION)
“Oulipoetics” by Julia Griffin
“My Father, the Immortal” by Lynne Knight
“Another Music” by Jean L. Kreiling
“Mother’s Day” by Elizabeth Sylvia
Thank you again to this year’s contest judge, Austin Allen, and to all the poets who helped make this year’s contest a success!