2021 Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award winners

Lalini Shanela Ranaraja's poem "For [REDACTED]” won the 22nd annual Vázquez-Valarezo Poetry Award at Augustana.

Ranaraja also won third place for "Freefall In Reverse.”

Second place went to Blake Traylor for  "Deathtrap"

Ranaraja is a senior from Sri Lanka, majoring in anthropology and creative writing.

Traylor is a junior from Naperville, Ill., majoring in English, creative writing and Spanish.

Judges were Dr. Taddy Kalas, professor of French, and Lucas Street, director of the Reading and Writing Center.

The award is sponsored by Dr. Jeanneth Vázquez, professor of Spanish. Winners receive a small monetary award and a certificate of recognition. The award is named in honor of two educators, the late Honorato Vazquez and the late Angelica Valarezo, writers who worked in the field of education in Ecuador for 35 years. In addition to recognizing excellence, the award is designed to encourage student poets to submit their work for consideration.