Announcing the Winners of the 2026 Kingfisher Poetry Prize!

Lines that Linger

We are excited to announce the winners of the 2026 Kingfisher Poetry Prize, as selected by final judge Jude Neale! Find the winners along with judge’s commentary below, and be sure to look for these prize-winning poems in Pulp Literature Issue 53, Winter 2027.

Winner: ‘oro rosso’ by Anna Mark

“This audacious poem is lush, strange, and wonderfully unsettling. ‘daughter after daughter for the slaughter’ turns the beauty of saffron into something darker: desire, consumption, fertility, and loss. The final shadow, ‘come to reap what i have sown,’ stays with me long after the poem ends.”

1st Runner-up: ‘Held Position’ by Kath Healing

“This masterful poem is quiet, exact, and deeply assured. ‘August smells like September’ lets mortality enter almost unnoticed, while the dead moth becomes the still point around which the whole poem turns. ‘Morning / will have to work around it’ is an ending I wish I had written.”

2nd Runner-up: ‘The Night I Harnessed the Light’ by K Abbott-Saez

“I was drawn to the poem’s mythic journey through grief, memory, and darkness. I found the white stallion a powerful image of guidance and strength. The final return, changed and ‘vibrating with a light from the other side,’ stayed with me.”

Congratulations to these three poets, and thank you to all of those who entered this contest for sharing your words and for supporting Pulp Literature!

And thank you once again to our illustrious final judge Jude Neale for taking excellent care of the Kingfisher.

Looking for contest glory for yourself?

Our 2026 Raven Short Story Contest is open to writers of short fiction. Get your entries in today, September 15th, to take advantage of our Earlybird pricing. Not quite ready? No worries! This contest will remain open until October 15th, 2026. Find all of the details and the contest guidelines here.