Thank you to each and every candidate who entered their poetry into The 2021 Sexton Prize for Poetry and a special thank you to our final judge Cornelius Eady for taking the time to generously offer his energy and mind towards reading your incredible submissions and entering your world of writing.
Our winner receives a monetary prize along with publication and global distribution.
We are so pleased to announce that the winner of the 2021 Sexton Prize for Poetry is:
JASMINE GAMES - SOMEBODY'S DAUGHTER
Jasmine Games (she/her) is a Black and queer spoken word poet and theatre practitioner from Houston, Texas. As a teaching artist, she uses drama-based pedagogy as a mode for self-introspection and positionality interrogation, partnering with schools and museums nationally. Recently, she produced, directed, and co-facilitated a ten week spoken word action-residency for high school youth, Courageous Cadence, which was celebrated with a final performance of shared poetry on race and gender (in)justices. She also partnered with GirlForward and The Blanton Museum of Art to co-produce, perform, and facilitate in Girl, Be Well!, a zoom interactive-play on wellness. She was a poet in residence at Black Box Writer Residency twice, where she initially published Double Dutch and earlier versions of Views from Wash Day and Winter Funeral, entitled “Over” and Dead of Winter. She is the 2021 Winifred Ward Scholar, awarded by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. She holds a BA in English and Performance Studies from Texas A&M University (2018). Currently, she is an MFA candidate for Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities at The University of Texas at Austin (2022). Wielding her words, Jasmine is fiercely committed to complete and total justice for marginalized peoples in our society, especially youth of color. See more at jasmineigames.com
Jasmine Games has made the following statement in acceptance of this prize:
I am full of joy, and I am tremendously honored to be the winner of the 2021 Sexton Prize for Poetry from The Black Spring Press Group. I wrote Somebody's Daughter while quarantined in my childhood home, and I included many poems I wrote as a teenager. Somebody's Daughter has been a product of my rage, sadness, healing, happiness, self-discovery, and coming of age. I feel immensely proud to witness this book go into print, and I hope that everyone who touches the pages within it experiences an ever-flowing immense feeling too. Thank you again to Cornelius Eady and The Black Spring Press Group.
Here is what Cornelius Eady had to say on why he chose this winner:
I think the first line in her poem "Hydrangeas in Bloom" pretty much sums up why I was won over "Do not forget the soil you grew in". Powerful, lyrical work devoted to her truth.