The 6th annual Paul Violi Prize in Poetry has been awarded to New School MFA in Creative Writing student Sean Speers. The second-prize winner is Thomas Moody, and honorable mention goes to Marissa Blose. The winners receive a cash prize and will be recognized at a student and faculty reading at The New School.
Sean Speers ("Misery Loves" and other poems) is a first-year MFA candidate in Creative Writing at The New School. His poems have appeared in Penn Review and The Dreams Journal and his articles have appeared or are forthcoming in USA Today and Fjords Review. He works for Nature Publishing Group, LIT Magazine, and The Poetry Society of New York. If Sean were a vowel he would be sometimes y.
Thomas Moody ("A Different Kind of Innocence" and other poems) is a first-year MFA Candidate in Poetry at The New School. He is Australian.
Marissa Blose ("Blind Party" and other poems) received her Bachelor's Degree in English at Moravian College and is now in her second year of the MFA Creative Writing program at The New School. In addition to being a poet, she spends her time working as a nanny, as well as working for a nonprofit literacy program. At the end of the day, she loves to go home and snuggle with her adorable pit bull named Blazer, who is still getting used to the city life.
