Mabelle A. Lyon Poetry Award

Lyon Award Submission Period: October 4 - November 29 2021

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.

Submission Instructions

• Sign into your ASU Gmail Account
• Follow the link to the AY 21-22 Lyon Poetry Award Submission Page
  
• Complete the information form provided
• Upload/Submit ONE poem of ANY length at the bottom of this form
• The poem can be in Word .docx or .pdf formats
• Your poetry submission should consist of the poem title and text only
• The submission deadline is 5:00pm on October 29, 2021.

AY 21-22 Judge: Michael Torres

Michael Torres was born and brought up in Pomona, California where he spent his adolescence as a graffiti artist. His debut collection of poems, An Incomplete List of Names (Beacon Press, 2020) was selected by Raquel Salas Rivera for the National Poetry Series and named one of NPR’s Best Books of 2020. His honors include awards and support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the McKnight Foundation, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, CantoMundo, VONA Voices, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Jerome Foundation, the Camargo Foundation, and the Loft Literary Center. Currently he’s an Assistant Professor in the MFA program at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and a teaching artist with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. Visit him at: michaeltorreswriter.com

Previous Recipients

• 2020-2021: Julian Delacruz
• 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.