2007 Sawtooth Poetry Prize competition, and the winner is...

Thanks to "anonymous," I looked up the winner of the 2007 Sawtooth Poetry Prize:

Ahsahta Press is delighted to announce the winner of its sixth annual Sawtooth Poetry Prize competition: Rusty Morrison of Richmond, California, whose manuscript the true keeps calm biding its story was selected by Peter Gizzi. She will receive the $1,500 prize in addition to the publication of her book by Ahsahta Press in January 2008. Read the rest here...

C.D. Wright will judge the 2008 contest.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Rusty Morrison and her husband Ken Keegan are founders of Omnidawn Publishing: a publication founded "to create books that are most closely aligned with each author's vision, and to provide an interactive and rewarding publishing experience for poets and writers."

"She was the winner of the 10th Annual Colorado Prize for Poetry (2004) judged by Forrest Gander for her poetry collection, Whethering, published by Center for Literary Publishing and distributed by the University Press of Colorado. She is also the winner of the 2006 Cecil Hemley Memorial Award and co-winner of the 2003 Robert H. Winner Memorial Award, both from the Poetry Society of America. She also co-edits the poetry journal 26, which is affiliated with the Saint Mary's MFA program."

Finalists for the 2007 Sawtooth Poetry Prize:

Geri Lynn Baumblatt, Chicago, Illinois, Atlas of a Cul-de-sac

Oni Buchanan, Brighton, Massachusetts, Spring

Adam Clay, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Nodaway River

Joshua Corey, Ithaca, New York, Windlestrae

Donna de la Perrière, Oakland, California, Saint Erasure

Rebecca Morgan Frank, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Everyday Disaster

Anthony Hawley, Lincoln, Nebraska, Autobiography/Oughtabiography

Stephanie Heit, Frankfort, Michigan, Quiet Anatomy

Brenda Iijima, Brooklyn, New York, If Not Metamorphic (runner-up)

Alice Jones, Berkeley, California, Plunge

Jim Klein, Rutherford, New Jersey, I Didn’t Know if I Was Afoot or on Horseback

Rusty Morrison, Richmond, California, the true keeps calm biding its story (winner)

Danielle Pafunda, Shelburne, New Hampshire, Iatrogenic: Their Testimonies

Karin Randolph, Brooklyn, New York, Blitz

Richard A. Reid, Brooklyn, New York, to be hung from the ceiling by strings of varying length

Evelyn Reilly, Hillsdale, New York, Reverse Landscapes

Andrea Rexilius, Denver, Colorado, A HEM

Christopher Schmidt, Brooklyn, New York, The Next in Line

Brandon Shimoda, Missoula, Montana, O Bon

Michael Slosek, Chicago, Illinois, Artificial Origins

Ashley VanDoorn, Lawrenceville, Georgia, Devices

G.C. Waldrep, Gambier, Ohio, Archicembalo

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Semifinalists for 2007 Sawtooth Poetry Prize:

Angus Bennett, Austin, Texas, Stomachion

Jessica Bozek, Beverly, Massachusetts, The Bodyfeel Lexicon

Julie Carr, Denver, Colorado, I, Minimus

Jennifer Denrow, Saint Louis, Missouri, A Knee for a Life

Shira Dentz, Salt Lake City, Utah, Diagram of a Voice

Janet Kaplan, Brooklyn, New York, Dreamlife of a Philanthropist

Jennifer MacKenzie, Portland, Oregon, With Its Brightness

Dora Malech, Bethesda, Maryland, Say So

Sarah Mangold, Seattle, Washington, Everything About How

Malinda Markham, Tokyo, Japan, Who Came Running

Susan McCabe, Santa Monica, California, Descartes’ Nightmare

Mary Molinary, Memphis, Tennessee, Feast of Anonymous

L.J. Moore, San Francisco, California, F-STEIN

Rusty Morrison, Richmond, California, Beyond the Chainlink

Kristin Naca, Seattle, Washington, Bird Eating Bird

Christopher Rizzo, Albany, New York, 33 Days in the Month of Kid

Donna Stonecipher, Seattle, Washington, The Cosmopolitan

Allison Titus, Richmond, Virginia, Barter, Fasten

Leila Wilson, Chicago, Illinois, The Hundred Grasses

Terence Winch, Silver Spring, Maryland, Lift from Below

Lynn Xu, Brooklyn, New York, For an Expedient Return to Wilderness

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I wonder: Is Rusty Morrison's work really that good that she would win this contest and place as a semi-finalist?

I would say that she is well-connected. But I'll let you all judge for yourself.