Michael Shapiro, a graduate student in English at the University of California, Davis, is the winner of the 14th annual Celeste Turner Wright Poetry Prize Competition.
Shapiro received the first-place prize money of $100 for three poems: "Swimmer," "Inspiration" and "End of Summer."
Honorable mention awards were given to Chris R. Warner, a senior English major, and Catherine Anne Reavey, a graduate student in creative writing. The contest judges also commended entries by Jane Hotchkiss, Charles MacDonald and Margaret Helen Young.
Forty-two people entered the competition, which is designed to encourage the artistic and creative development of student poets, and is open to any UC Davis student. The contest, sponsored locally by Wright, is part of a national contest held annually by the Academy of American Poets.
The judges for this year's contest were Wright, a professor emeritus of English at UC Davis, and John Hayden and Peter Hays, professors of English at UC Davis.
Wright, the first woman to become a professor at UC Davis, chaired the Department of English for 27 years. She has published three volumes of poetry: "Etruscan Princess" (1964), "A Sense of Place" (1973) and "Seasoned Timber" (1977). Her memoir, "University Woman," was published in 1981.