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Bennett Nieberg
Transpoetic Broadside Prize
The Bennett Nieberg Transpoetic Broadside Prize awards a single poem written by a trans poet who has yet to publish their first full-length book. The prize consists of $500 and 5 limited edition broadsides of the winning poem that will also be sold via Broke Press to support future Bennett Nieberg Transpoetic Broadside prize years.
Bennett Nieberg (they/them) was a queer Jewish emerging poet pursuing their MFA at Virginia Commonwealth University at the time of their passing in 2021. Their work appears in journals such as Crabfat Magazine, New Delta Review, The Indianapolis Review, Entropy, Permafrost, Western Humanities Review, Pretty Owl, and Lunch Ticket, among others. They were the editor in chief of the journal What Are Birds? which hosted the original Transpoetic Broadside Prize. Gasher Press honors Bennett’s legacy of social justice and commitment to the literary community with the continuation of the Transpoetic Prize.
Photo credit: Rachel Lowe Photography
2025 Year's Final Judge
Michal 'MJ' Jones
author of HOOD VACATIONS, winner of the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry.
Michal "MJ" Jones (they/he) is an award-winning poet, parent, and editor living in Oakland, CA. Their debut collection of poetry, HOOD VACATIONS, won the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry. They are also the author of a chapbook, SOFT ARMOR (2023), from Black Lawrence Press. Often addressing the troubling and haunting aspects of life, violence, and identity, MJ’s poetry blends lyrical, documentary, and confessional modes. From 2022-2024, MJ served as as the Editor-In-Chief of Foglifter, an award-winning literary journal publishing radical work by LGBTQIA2-S writers. They have been awarded fellowships from Lambda Literary, Hurston/Wright Foundation, and VONA/Voices.
2025 WINNER
Rose Jenny
"Burning Haibun for When I Lack the Language to Love Myself"
In his final selection, Michal 'MJ' Jone's wrote of Rose Jenny's poem:
"'[...] how one can trust in something that came so close to killing you.'
Already I love the Burning Haibun and its lineage in transness—and the poet here has cadence, lyric, and image all in a tightly composed transformation of violence into self reclamation. Consider in this poem how what is taken from us can transform into a kind of prayer, even if whispered, even with a limited economy of language left from ashes."
Rose Jenny is a trans writer/performer based in Tennessee. Her poetry chapbook, My Apocrypha, is available through Bottlecap Press. Rose's other selected poems have been published in SWWIM Every Day, Santa Fe Writers Project Quarterly, South Florida Poetry Journal, Pensive Journal, new words {press}, and The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. As a playwright, she has produced her work through Marymount Manhattan College and the Midwinter Madness Short Play Festival at Roy Arias Studios in New York City. Her work has received additional support from Tin House and the Sewanee Writers' Conference; she was also a finalist for the 2025 Maureen Seaton Poetry Prize. Rose received her MFA in Creative Writing from University of Miami, where she was a Michener Fellow and poetry editor of sinking city.
2025 Finalist
“ode to Theseus” by Dara Goodale
“for my birthday, i want to be a firetruck” by Allen Means
“Holdfast” by Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhrán
2025 Semifinalist
“Place a Sock Full of Rice in Your Car Overnight” by Aaron Rachel
“With my 19 Year Old Self I Attempt Understanding” by aiofe smith
“Ugh, I'm So Over Hope” by Kale Hensley
“for worse or for better – we change” by Schuyler Brooks
Previous Winners
2023: Callie Jennings for the poem "Four Months to Coming Out Again" Selected by final judge [sarah] Cavar
2022: Leo Gabriel Miller for the poem "buzz cut baptism" Selected by final judge Kayleb Rae Candrilli