The Patricia Dobler Poetry Award, sponsored by Madwomen in the Attic, is an annual contest open to women writers over the age of 40 who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents, currently living in the U.S., who have not published a full-length book of poetry, fiction, or non-fiction.

Photo of Andrea England

About the winner

Andrea England is the mother of daughters, dogs, plants, and other miscellaneous ideas. She is co-editor of the anthology Scientists and Poets #Resist (Brill Press, 2019) and the author of two chapbooks, Other Geographies (Creative Justice Press, 2017, winner of the Creative Justice Poetry Prize), and Inventory of a Field (Finishing Line Press, 2014). Her work has most recently appeared or is forthcoming in the I-70 Review, Potomac Review, Prairie Schooner, The Comstock Review, and Cutthroat, A Journal of the Arts. She teaches 2024 Patricia Dobler Poetry Award Results and Poem graduate literature and creative writing for Southern New Hampshire University’s College of Online and Continuing Education and is the writing specialist for Western Michigan University’s athletic department. If looking and listening closely, you can find her running 5ks, hiking in the woods, and singing to her dog.

To view or download the poem and additional information about our winners, click on the title of the poem below.

2023: “Vessel“, Rose DeMaris

2022: “First Night“, Jana-Lee Germaine

2021: “Your Sister Brings Me an Orchard“, Elizabeth Wilson

2020: “Juxtaposing the Black Girl & the Abuse“, Shirley Jones Luke

2019: “Fox Collar“, Kathleen Kirk from Normal, Il

2018: “The Grocery Store“, Donna M. Glass

2017: “Sorrow I Will Lead You Out Somewhere“, Deborah Allbritain

2016: “After the Accident“, Dana Salvador

2015: “A Woman from the Infant Mortality Review Board Calls“, Amanda Newell

2014: “Float“, Wendy Miles

2013: “Furious Bread“, Chryss Yost

2012: “At the Brera, Milan“, Michelle Maher

2011: “The Stone of Me“, Gail Langstroth

2010: “Toehold“, Margot Wizansky

2009: “Goliath“, Heidi Johannesen Poon

2008: “Mud Season (2nd grade)“, Jane McKinley

2007 (inaugural year): “Incoming Wounded“, Maureen O’Brien

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