Catamaran Poetry Prize

for West Coast Poets 2026

The Winner of the 2026 Poetry Prize is

A Good Prognosis

by Joan Baranow

from Mill Valley, California

Joan Baranow is the author of seven poetry books, including Reading Szymborska in a Time of Plague, winner of the 2021 Brick Road Poetry Book Contest. Her poems have appeared in The Paris Review, Poetry, The Gettysburg Review, Posit, JAMA, and elsewhere. A Virginia Center for the Creative Arts fellow and member of the Community of Writers, she founded and teaches in the Low-Residency MFA program in Creative Writing at Dominican University of CA. She currently produces videos for her YouTube channel @poetryandhealing.

About the Catamaran Poetry Prize

for West Coast Poets

The Catamaran Poetry Prize encourages the submission of previously unpublished poetry manuscripts across a range of styles, themes, and forms. This contest is for a collection of poetry only. The prize is only open to West Coast poets living in California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii. A prize of $1,000 and publication in book form is awarded to the poetry collection selected by the judge. Submissions are accepted from Feb 15th through July 1st.

Congratulations to our 2026 Winner, Runner Up, Finalists, and Semifinalists

Winner
A Good Prognosis by Joan Baranow from Mill Valley, California

Runner Up
La Vida es solo lo que hace by Christopher Buckley from Santa Barbara, California

Finalists:
One Life to Live by Cynthia White from Santa Cruz, California
Ground Effect by David Denny from Cupertino, California
Paper Window by Michael Pearce from Oakland, California
Bright Extinction by Mary Fontana from Seattle, Washinton
Between Worlds by Kathryn Jordan from Berkeley, California

Semifinalists:
Amulet Against Forgetting by Kathleen McClung from San Francisco, California
The Body Center by Cindy Milwe from Venice, California
Above the Fellfield by Shane Eaves from Pico Rivera, California