The Glascock Intercollegiate Poetry Contest honors Kathryn Irene Glascock ‘22, a promising young poet who died of pneumonia. Established in 1923 for Mount Holyoke students, the contest was transformed a year later into an intercollegiate event.
Mount Holyoke poet-contestants are chosen by a committee of faculty and students. Poet-contestants from invited institutions are nominated or chosen by their own schools. The poetry contest is judged by a panel of three distinguished poets.
The competition weekend includes a series of public events over the course of a weekend: a Conversation With the Judges, the Student Poetry Competition, and the Judges’ Reading and Announcement of the Contest Winner.
Many Glascock contestants have gone on to literary renown, such as Muriel Rukeyser, James Agee, James Merrill, Kenneth Koch, Diana Chang, Sylvia Plath, Donald Hall, Katha Pollit, and Maggie Nelson.
Since the very first panel of judges, which included Robert Frost, the Glascock has been judged by distinguished poets such as Elizabeth Bishop, W.H. Auden, Seamus Heaney, Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, Richard Wilbur, William Carlos Williams, Carl Phillips, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Marilyn Chin, Ari Banias, Martín Espada, Dawn Lundy Martin, Kaveh Akbar, Franny Choi, and Fred Moten.
