2023 Poetry Competition Winners

Posted on: May 13, 2023May 10, 2023

THE WINNERS ARE IN …

First, Friends of Falun Gong thanks all its poet participants. We received some great submissions! It was a delight to read so many touching and well-crafted poems. Our lists of contest winners and honorable mentions are below, with easy, clickable links to the poems. We happily publish these poems today to help commemorate World Falun Dafa Day, 2023.

AWARDS

1^st Place – $500

Susan Jarvis Bryant, “Tooth and Claw”

2^nd Place – $250

Monika Cooper, “The Gentle Ones”

3^rd Place – $100

James A. Tweedie, “Bad China”

4^th Place

Joshua C. Frank, “The Real Cost”

Honorable Mentions

Paul A. Freeman, “In a School of Transformation”

Cheryl Corey, “A Continent Away”

Roy E. Peterson, “I Must Condemn the CCP!”

Ofilwe Maloiso, “Falun Gong’s Plight”

Kevin MacAlan, “Falun Gong”

Contest Judges

Evan Mantyk, President of The Society of Classical Poets

(with additional helpful eyes from the FoFG Editorial Staff)

Note from the Editors: most of these poems were written by poets who just recently learned about Falun Gong and the persecution. While we recognize and commend these poems as voices of support, they do not represent Falun Gong itself or even the views of FoFG as an organization. For a genuine understanding of the practice, one would have to explore the teachings at their very source.