2023 Poetry Competition Winners
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
1st Place – $500
Susan Jarvis Bryant, “Tooth and Claw”
2nd Place – $250
Monika Cooper, “The Gentle Ones”
3rd Place – $100
4th 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”
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.