BOA Blog

Rochester, NY. March 2nd, 2026—Boa Editions is proud to announce that Alejandro Lucero of Baltimore, MD is the winner of the 25th annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. His winning manuscript, At the Bottom of the Sea with One Light, was selected by celebrated poet and writer Rigoberto González. At the Bottom of the Sea with One Light will be published by Boa Editions in Spring 2027 as part of the New Poets of America Series with a foreword by Rigoberto González. Lucero will also receive a $1,000 honorarium.   On selecting this title, González writes: "Alejandro Lucero’s gorgeous book...

Rochester, NY—BOA Editions, Ltd. is proud to announce that Leigh Lucas of San Francisco, CA is the winner of the 24th annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. Her winning manuscript, Splashed Things, was selected by celebrated poet and writer Maya C. Popa from a pool of nearly 800 original submissions. Splashed Things will be published by BOA Editions in April 2026 as part of the New Poets of America Series with a foreword by Maya C. Popa. Lucas will also receive a $1,000 honorarium. In selecting Splashed Things, final judge Maya C. Popa writes: "Profoundly affecting and finely crafted, this collection enacts...

Chaun Ballard is a doctoral student of poetry at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, an affiliate editor for Alaska Quarterly Review, an assistant poetry editor for Prairie Schooner, and an assistant poetry editor for Terrain.org. He is the author of the chapbook Flight, which received the 2018 Sunken Garden Poetry Prize and is published by Tupelo Press. Ballard's poems have appeared in The Atlantic, Narrative Magazine, Oxford Poetry, Poetry Northwest, The Missouri Review, The New York Times, and other literary magazines. In the following self-interview about his first collection of poetry, Second Nature, winner of the 23rd annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize, Chaun discusses personas, sonnets, and being in...

 Rochester, NY—BOA Editions, Ltd. is pleased to announce that Chaun Ballard of Lincoln, Nebraska is the winner of the 23rd annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. His winning manuscript, Second Nature, was selected by celebrated poet and writer Matthew Shenoda from a pool of over 800 original submissions. Second Nature will be published by BOA Editions in April 2025 as part of the New Poets of America Series with a foreword by Matthew Shenoda. Ballard will also receive a $1,000 honorarium.  "Much gratitude to Peter Conners and the team at BOA for this unexpected good news. I wish to express my gratitude to the BOA family and...

  Rochester, N.Y. — We are thrilled to announce that acclaimed poet Matthew Shenoda will judge the 23rd annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize, which will open for submissions on August 1! Matthew Shenoda is a writer, professor, and author and editor of several books. His poems and essays have appeared in a variety of newspapers, journals, radio programs and anthologies. His debut collection of poems, Somewhere Else (Coffee House Press), was named one of 2005's debut books of the year by Poets & Writers Magazine and was winner of a 2006 American Book Award. He is also the author of Seasons of Lotus,...