Announcing the Winners of the 2024 Advent Poetry Contest: Listening with Mary

Congratulations to the winners of CLA’s 2024 Advent Poetry Contest Winners!

We thank all who entered the contest.  We trust that these poems will light your own Advent journey.

The finalists for this contest were: Claudia Casas, Johanna Caton, Jeanna Cooper, Jeffrey Essmann, Kristi Gomez, Maura H. Harrison, Sister Elizabeth Marie Kalscheur, O.P., Sara Kumar, Adrian Lenthall, Fran McManus, RSM, Christine Rossi, Erika Takacs, and Adam Thompson.

Please read the winning entries below!  Then join us for the virtual Celebration of Winners and Finalists on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, 7:00p.m. CST, by registering here.

First Prize: Maura H. Harrison
Second Prize: Adrian Lenthall
Third Prize: Johanna Caton
Honorable Mention: Claudia Casas
Honorable Mention: Erika Takacs

First Place
She Heard the Angel Whisper
by Maura H. Harrison

She heard the angel whisper     —full of grace—
She heard his hail, heard word of Word    —fear not—
Felt favored    —Presence in a hidden place—
Heard Overshadow knit the light     —womb wrought—
Into a song    —How is it possible?—
With Posey    —Nothing is impossible—

She heard her cousin’s cry     —blessed are you—
Leaping with locust laughs      —fruit of your womb—
And choirs and bees and joys all humming     —true—
Heard Holy Spirit weave delight   —joy’s bloom—
And stayed on with Elizabeth     —Old soul—
Water drops dripping, washing prayers     —Her soul—

She heard her husband whisper     —come this way—
Saw burdened heart     —no bedrooms at the inn—
A thorn that scratched his soul     —what can I say?—
Scutched hay and suffering chill     —humble within—
With snoring, bleating beasts     —Amen, Amen—
The midnight’s Quiet brings the sun     —Amen.

Comments by Marci Bowman on She Heard the Angel Whisper

This poem meets the contest challenge perfectly. Composed of three heroic stanzas, the poem draws us into the first three Joyous Mysteries of the Rosary, mysteries which frame Mary’s heroic virtues. We listen, in the first part of each line, to Mary’s thoughts. In the second part, we hear what she hears. In the first stanza, we marvel at Mary’s feminine receptivity, which responds to the Holy Spirit. In the second, we intuit the life of John the Baptist as we hear Elizabeth bless Mary. In the third, we grow in love of St. Joseph and his tender care of the pregnant Mary. The poem draws on the Gospel stories, on Catholic tradition, and on Ignatian Gospel contemplation.

Second Place
After Trevail
by Adrian Lenthall

What does the child say, the child who is mute in your lap?
Gentle the strength of the ox, the breath of the donkey
Still now the flight of the birds, lodged close above
Nearer again is your neighbour, though far flown in thinking
Why is he crying, the one so great in your heart?
The high places wait, with stones that are hungry for stumbling
Only their trust finds a roof for the cares of the poor
Yet the mighty conceive, galloping on their intentions
How will you settle the child born into the storm?
Though waves break around us, he sleeps; it is I who am stilled
Where will you place him when, silent, he knows no more rocking?
To the mother this place is all places, is all that will be

High shines the winter moon. The sun stoops low.
The heart that is pierced is opened. Be cradled, that hold all things.

Comments by Marci Bowman on After Travail

The title reminds us that, while Mary did not suffer labor pains, she and St. Joseph did travail on their trip to Bethlehem and in their struggles to find shelter once they arrived. The form of this poem echoes the choral call and response of Classical Greek drama and the question-and-answer format of the Baltimore Catechism. Mary’s lines in the poem, ending, as they largely do, in anapests, have the soothing rhythm of a lullaby, even while some of the images are unsettling. The last line reminds of us Simeon’s words about Mary’s heart and when Jesus is taken down from the cross and laid in Mary’s arms.

Third Prize
St Anne, the Day After the Angel’s Visit
by Johanna Caton

My daughter didn’t tell me right away.
The morning came.  Our chores had to be done.
But Mary, even working, seemed so grave,
so still: she seemed to hear something—some one.

I listened and another silence filled
the room.  Make no mistake. it did not seem
to fill: it filled the room, the house and still
it spread, amid the tasks of bread to knead

and hens to feed and flax to spin.  Her face—
her face a wonder: pale and blessed and inward.
When she thought I’d gone she paused and placed
one hand upon her heart.  And then I heard

a tiny drum-beat, saw: a bird had dropped.
It panted, panted; then, its heartbeat stopped. 

Comments by Marci Bowman on St Anne, the Day After the Angel’s Visit

Who listens more carefully or with more love than a mother? The challenge for this contest was to listen with Mary. In this sonnet, we listen with St. Anne, a saint who the Catholic tradition, not scripture, gives us, as she listens with Mary at the moment of the Annunciation. That silent moment rises in the poem and fills stanzas, just as St. Anne’s love fills her heart at Mary’s silent fiat. In the silence, we see Mary intimately, blessed among women.

Honorable Mention
The Ark
by Claudia Casas

With bright sun rays bursting across the sea,
The long night’s end reveals horizon’s edge,
A ship, it’s crowning gem. But then, a crash
Of lightening shook earth’s crust with thunderous applause
And stones of ice bombarded the world as she
Approached. A vessel, beautiful and true,
That kept the course as she sailed through the stars.
She pierced moon’s twin reflected on the sea.
Her bow, the arrow pushing towards the shore.
Blue coats her swollen hull, that’s truly filled.
When she makes port at last, her feet alight
Upon the ground. The sun blazes behind
Her as she rocks the precious Word to sleep.

Honorable Mention
What Mary Hears
by Erika Takacs

What Mary Hears
Not just the angel, his voice blazing
with holy fire, enfolding

and inevitable. Or her cousin,
whose joy bursts from her lips

like a psalm. Or the child
who whispers in the silence,

in the darkness, I am
with you, I am with you.

Not just these, but the orphan
no one remembers

to feed. The widow who sits
every day in a dim corner

of the temple, curled
around her loneliness. The meek,

the poor, the lame, the weak,
every soul that will never be

mighty—these are the voices
that speak in Mary’s heart,

the precious, unseen spirits
she lifts up before the world,

crying, These are my beloved.
Listen to them.

Contest Information

Submission Guidelines:

All submissions must be:

• typed in 12-point font and submitted through Submittable in a Word file of .doc or .docx.

• all work is blind-judged which means that the judge must not see the name of the author. Therefore, the author’s name must not appear on the submission or in the document’s file name.  

• original work that has not been published online or in a hard copy journal, magazine, or book.

• the work must be the original creation of the person submitting the work

• there is a line limit of 32 lines, not including the title.

Submissions Period

This contest opens October 14, 2024 and closes November 19, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. CST.

Submittable Guidelines

The electronic submissions platform for this contest is Submittable.

In order to use Submittable, you will need to create an account on their website, if you do not already have one. Creation of an account within Submittable is free.

If you have questions or problems with Submittable, please contact their Customer Service directly via their website, submittable.com.

Each writer may enter one poem.

Entry Fees

The entry fee per submission is $10.

A writer may enter only one poem.

Prizes/Awards

Prizes will be awarded in the poetry category as follows;

• First prize, $75

• Second Prize, $50

• Third Prize, $25

Winners must complete IRS Form W-9 to receive payment in U.S. dollars.

Submit Your Entry here

Please use the link above to submit one poem. The Submittable form will direct you how to pay the submission fee. You will be given the option in Submittable to pay by credit card or via your PayPal account.

Celebration for Winners and Finalists

Catholic Literary Arts invites you to a virtual event through Zoom to celebrate the Advent Writing Contest’s winners and finalists.

These celebrations occur in a joyous virtual community eager to hear and share the writing of today’s writers of Faith.  You’ll walk away inspired to write more yourself, and, we hope, inspired to further reflect on listening with Mary along with members of the CLA nationwide community.

The virtual event will be Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024 at seven p.m. CST. It will last 60 minutes. 
Register here for this event.