Judy Bebelaar Wins Ina Coolbirth Grand Prize

In 2018, poet Judy Bebelaar won a third, a second and a first prize in different categories of the Ina Coolbrith Circle Poetry Contest. The one that won first, “Ode to Broken Things,” also won the Grand Prize. Ina was quite a woman, California’s first poet laureate, reading her biography by Aleta George now) and the Circle is a continuation of her circle, which included Mark Twain and Bret Harte). It’s a pretty big local contest with people entering from all over CA. This was the first year they awarded a framed certificate for the Grand Prize Winner, which is below, and Judy also won a first in this year’s theme for the 100th anniversary of the Circle, “Circle.”