Celebrating Zora Sowinska: Academy of American Poets Prize Winner

We are excited to share some wonderful news about one of our editorial interns: Zora Sowinska has won the 2025 Academy of American Poets Contest with her poem "A Visit to Lisamu."

The Academy of American Poets' University and College Poetry Prize program is significant—it sponsors over two hundred annual poetry prizes at colleges and universities across the country and has awarded cash prizes to nearly ten thousand student poets since its inception. To win is to join a lineage of emerging poets whose work demonstrates the kind of precision, emotional depth, and originality that the literary community recognizes as essential.

Zora brings this same editorial sensibility to her work with our publication. Since joining the Abraxas team as an editorial intern, Zora has engaged thoughtfully with submissions, contributed creative ideas about our social media strategy, and brought a sharp eye to identifying work that resonates with our mission.

We're honored to have her on the Abraxas team and excited to see where her work takes her.

Congratulations, Zora! We can't wait to see what you create next.

Learn more about the Academy of American Poets and their University & College Poetry Prize program here.