Mabelle A. Lyon Poetry Award

Lyon Award Submission Period: October 5, 2020 - November 2, 2020

Mabelle A. Lyon published more than 1,000 poems in commercial and literary magazines and anthologies. She founded the first public library in Goodyear, Arizona and co-founded the Arizona Poetry Society, serving as the first president. After she died, friends and family of Lyon made a memorial gift to establish the Mabelle A. Lyon Poetry Award at ASU in honor of her love of poetry. Lyon’s poems and writings were provided to the English department as an archive for faculty and students.

A prize of $300 and a public reading with the award judge is given to an ASU undergraduate or graduate creative writing student each year for a single poem of any length.

Judge: Joshua Jennifer Espinoza

 Joshua Jennifer Espinoza is a trans woman poet living in California. Her work has been published in The American Poetry Review, Poem-a-Day, Denver Quarterly, West Branch, and Buzzfeed, among others. She is also the author of two poetry collections: I’m Alive / It Hurts / I Love It (2014; rereleased by Big Lucks in 2019), and THERE SHOULD BE FLOWERS (CCM 2016). She is currently an MFA candidate at UC Riverside. 

Submission Guidelines

• Email one poem (of any length) as a Word .docx or .pdf to justin.petropoulos@asu.edu
• Please make the subject line of your submission email: LAST NAME + Lyon Award Fall20
• Poem must be submitted by 4:00 pm on November 2, 2020
• Attach a coversheet with your name, poem title, and contact information
• Do not include your name or contact information on the poem itself, title only 

Previous Recipients

• 2019-2020: Anna Flores
• 2018-2019: Maritza Estrada
• 2017-2018: [No award given]
• 2016-2017: Jack Geist
• 2015-2016: Kyle Bassett
• 2014-2015: Reese Conner
• 2013-2014: Dorothy Chan

For more information, contact Creative Writing Program Manager, Justin Petropoulos at justin.petropoulos@asu.edu.