September 29, 2009

Briar Cliff University Professor Wins First Prize in Poetry Contest

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Jeanne Emmons, Ph.D., professor of English and writing at Briar Cliff University, has won first prize in the annual poetry competition sponsored by the Comstock Review, a semi-annual journal of poetry published in Syracuse, N.Y. 

Dr. Emmons’ poem, “Termites: the Covenant,” was chosen from among 2,500 submissions. The judge, Maxine Kumin, was former U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winner. In addition, Dr. Emmons' poetry recently has been accepted for publication in The South Carolina Review and Ecotone.

She has three published collections of poetry: Rootbound (New Rivers Press 1998), Baseball Nights and DDT (Pecan Grove Press 2005) and The Glove of the World (Backwaters Press 2006). Emmons’ first book won the Minnesota Voices Poetry Competition. Her newest book, The Glove of the World, won the Reader’s Choice Award from Backwaters Press.

In addition, Dr. Emmons won the James Hearst Poetry Prize, as well as awards from The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, South Coast Poetry Journal and Iowa Woman. Her work has appeared in literary journals, such as American Scholar, Alaska Quarterly, Confrontation, Prairie Schooner, New Orleans Review, Cream City Review and many others.

Dr. Emmons, who joined Briar Cliff in 1980, was born in Minden, La., and received her Ph.D. in English from the University of Texas.

Briar Cliff University is a Catholic institution with an enrollment of more than 1,100 students from 28 states. Students are educated in the Franciscan tradition of excellence in the liberal arts and career preparation in an environment of care and compassion. For more information, please visit briarcliff.edu.

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