Worcester County Poetry Association

M (Maia) Campbell of Worcester, Massachusetts, has won the 2026 Frank O’Hara Prize. The O’Hara Prize, awarded annually by the Worcester County Poetry Association (WCPA), was established in 1973. Campbell’s poem “apologia poetica” was selected by contest judge January Gill O’Neil from the 197 submissions by 75 entrants.

M (Maia) Campbell is a Jamaican-American poet. She has been a Brooklyn Poets fellow, and, in 2025, she won second place in the Frank O’Hara Prize Contest with the poem “When I Grow Up.” You can find published poems in Amistad, The Ana, Three Decker, and forthcoming in The Worcester Review. You can keep up with M at https://poeticallyexpressedthoughts.wordpress.com/.

Two additional winners were selected by January Gill O’Neil

Second Place – Dr. Huili Zheng of Rutland, Massachusetts, for “Legoland at Night”
Third Place – Michael Milligan of Worcester, Massachusetts, for “Among the Trees”
The winning poems will be published in the next edition of The Worcester Review, the nationally recognized journal of the WCPA. The winners also receive a cash award.

The WCPA will invite all the winners to read their work at the Winners’ Ceremony and Reading on Sunday, September 27, 2026, at 4:00 p.m.

The Winners’ Reading will be held at the WCPA Board Room 61 Harvard St. Worcester. Contest judge January Gill O’Neil will be our featured reader that afternoon.

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Joe Fusco Jr. attends a Catholic Mass with his family. He's been away for a while, so he brought extra jokes to keep all the saints entertained. See link below ⬇️

📸 Margaret Smith/Worcester Magazine