We are pleased to bring you our small but mighty 2024 contest issue! In honor of Tinderbox Poetry Journal’s 10th anniversary this year, the Brett Elizabeth Jenkins Poetry Prize was judged by former Tinderbox editor Jenn Givhan. Of the finalists, she writes:

These finalists are all gorgeous, but I’ve chosen “I Want” as the winner. The associations and play convey such a nimble, quiet longing matched with tension and surprise that I felt the depth of desire, delight, and ache at once. Brava!

My runner-up choice is “Tremolo,” which I loved and appreciated because of its tender, complex music where I felt keenly the sharp pang of fear and tension but also the sweetness of the loon.

Both of these were evocative, tightly knit, and lyrical–and they stayed with me.

Of the Majda Gama Editor’s Prize Winner, Editor Lauren K. Carlson writes:

I’m drawn to the way the poet weaves the mythical and the personal, the ancient and contemporary. The last lines have stuck with me since my first reading of the poem. I find myself repeating the refrain, “What is it? What is it we’re naming here?” and being transported back to the world the poem builds, but also using the question in my own life, and feel it’s an especially urgent one for writers.

What is it? What is it we’re naming here?

We’re grateful to all of our finalists for making this issue so rich. Happy new year, and enjoy!