The New Social Worker Reverse Poetry Contest Winners Announced!

     We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 Reverse Poetry Contest, hosted by The New Social Worker® magazine, in collaboration with Loyola University Chicago School of Social Work.

     We received 21 entries in the practitioner category and 16 entries in the student category. First, second, and third place winners were chosen in each category. All poems are in the form of a reverse poem - a poem that has one meaning when read from top to bottom and another meaning when read from bottom to top. The focus of each poem is on a social justice theme.

     Please join us in congratulating our winners:

Student Category

  1. Mackaully Parada - "Second Chance"
  2. Michaela J. Cook - "A Transformation of Identity"
  3. Jasmine Nelson - "It's Your Choice To Hate"

Practitioner Category

  1. Rich H. Kenney, Jr. - "Perspectives"
  2. Daniel Magos - "Dreamers"
  3. April Gardner - "Addiction"

     The winning poems are published during Social Work Month (March 2018) on The New Social Worker website. Click on each poem's title above to read the poem.

     Thank you to ALL the students and practitioners who entered the contest. We applaud your creativity and your passion for social justice.

     Thank you to our judges:

  • Linda May Grobman, MSW, ACSW, LSW, publisher/editor of The New Social Worker
  • Brian L. Kelly, Ph.D., MSW, CADC, Assistant Professor, Director, Advanced Accredited Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Counselor Training Program, Loyola University Chicago
  • Charity Weishar, MSW student, Loyola University Chicago
  • Dorlee Michaeli, MBA, LMSW, Psychotherapist | Consultant | Blogger, www.SocialWork.Career

     Thank you to Loyola University Chicago School of Social Work for its generous sponsorship of the contest, and to the school's dean, Goutham Menon, Ph.D., for his support of this project.

Sponsored by: