{"id":25069,"date":"2026-03-03T08:02:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T13:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/?p=25069"},"modified":"2026-03-04T03:34:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T08:34:44","slug":"dudley-randall-poetry-prize-winners-announced-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/2026\/03\/03\/dudley-randall-poetry-prize-winners-announced-for-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Dudley Randall Poetry Prize winners announced for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_25109\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25109\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-25109\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2026\/03\/dudley-library-exhibit-300x225.jpg?resize=300%2C225&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2026\/03\/dudley-library-exhibit.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2026\/03\/dudley-library-exhibit.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2026\/03\/dudley-library-exhibit.jpg?resize=733%2C550&amp;ssl=1 733w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2026\/03\/dudley-library-exhibit.jpg?w=825&amp;ssl=1 825w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25109\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An exhibit of the prize-winning poems from the 2026 Dudley Randall Poetry Contest with publications from Dudley Randall\u2019s Broadside Press. McNichols Campus Library. Exhibit curated by Melissa Converse and Shane Creek.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Detroit Mercy <a href=\"https:\/\/chass.udmercy.edu\/academics\/eng\/\">Department of English<\/a> is proud to announce the winners of this year&#8217;s Dudley Randall Poetry Prizes! Eliza Makhdoom earned first place for the poem, <em>Backrooms<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Now in its 56th year, the prize continues Dudley Randall\u2019s legacy of amplifying creative voices within the Detroit Mercy community. This year&#8217;s prize-winning poems can be read on the <a href=\"https:\/\/chass.udmercy.edu\/academics\/eng\/dr-poetry-contest.php\">Dudley Randall Poetry Prize webpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The winning poems will also be displayed in the McNichols Campus Library for National Poetry Month this April.<\/p>\n<p>The winners are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First place: <strong>Eliza Makhdoom<\/strong>, <em>Backrooms<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Second place (tie): <strong>Zahra Albdair<\/strong>, <em>While the House was Full<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Second place (tie): <strong>Eemi Toma<\/strong>, <em>The Perfume Bottle<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Third place: <strong>Melissa (Mel) Converse, <\/strong><em>Bleeding Heart<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Honorable Mention: <strong>Ashleigh Dixon<\/strong>, <em>The Bell I No Longer Hear<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Honorable Mention: <strong>Jenna Saker<\/strong>, <em>Last Witness<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span class=\"markf2t39fg2m uM2yb\" data-markjs=\"true\">Congratulations<\/span> to all of the excellent poets who submitted their work! Special thanks to our 2026 judges: Melba Joyce Boyd (Michigan Poet Laureate), Joanna Fuhrman and Molly Barlow.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_25068\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25068\" style=\"width: 948px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-25068\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2026\/02\/Dudley-2026.jpg?resize=948%2C190&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Photos of the six winners of the Dudley Randall poetry contest.\" width=\"948\" height=\"190\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2026\/02\/Dudley-2026.jpg?resize=300%2C60&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2026\/02\/Dudley-2026.jpg?resize=768%2C154&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2026\/02\/Dudley-2026.jpg?w=971&amp;ssl=1 971w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 948px) 100vw, 948px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25068\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(From left to right): Eliza Makhdoom, Zahra Albdair, Eemi Toma, Melissa Converse, Ashleigh Dixon, Jenna Saker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of English is proud to announce the winners of this year&#8217;s Dudley Randall Poetry Prize! Eliza Makhdoom earned first place for her poem, &#8220;Backrooms.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":677,"featured_media":25068,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4083],"tags":[6164,6165,6523,1019,5483,2370,3684,198,7042,3792],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2026\/02\/Dudley-2026.jpg?fit=971%2C195&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbwnTV-6wl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25069"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25069"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25110,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25069\/revisions\/25110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}