Announcing the 2026 Jane Greer Memorial Poetry Contest

On July 22, 2025, the American Catholic community lost one of its most celebrated poets. Jane Greer (or North Dakota Jane, as she was known online) was the founding editor of Plains Poetry Journal and the author of the poetry collections Bathsheba on the Third Day, Love like a Conflagration, and The World as We Know It Is Falling Away. Jane’s work was also published in the National Review, Modern Age, First Things, St. Austin Review, and elsewhere.

More importantly, Jane was a beloved friend. As Dappled Things and Wiseblood Books editor Mary Finnegan said on the occasion of Jane’s passing:

Jane was a charming and fun-loving person with a mischievous sense of humor. This may sound like a small thing, but it wasn’t, and isn’t. Charm and humor are totally underrated qualities in our society today. Her funny social media posts always made me burst out in laughter—a blessing in any setting, but especially on social media, which, yes, can be toxic. But if social media can be venomous then Jane was an antidote to its poisons with her good humor and grace. That is: she used social media honestly, for the good—good poetry, good fun, good friendships.

Jane gave evidence that how you use something matters. She wasn’t merely a jokester who also happened to share her poetry. She brought her full self to Facebook and Twitter, her beliefs, her orneriness (erasures poems, anyone?), her kindness, and levity. The outpouring of prayers and good wishes, the shock at her death and the sharing of her poems (and jokes) shows that Jane made a lot of friends on social media, which supposedly was the point of those apps in the first place, at least for those of us who use them, if not for the companies themselves.

Jane was loved—so much so that when her social media friends pooled their money to send funeral flowers, they ended up with several hundred dollars left over. Her friends asked themselves what Jane would have wanted them to do with the funds, and supporting fellow poets was the obvious answer.

Thanks to the generosity of the Catholic literary community, and with the blessing of Jane’s family, Dappled Things announces the 2026 Jane Greer Memorial Poetry Contest, for the best poems submitted to the journal this year. Judges include poetry editor Meredith McCann, associate editor Andrew Calis, and guest judge J.C. Scharl.

Prizes are as follows:

First Place: $500
Second Place: $200
Third Place: $100

All 2026 poetry submissions will automatically be considered for the contest as well as publication in Dappled Things. Our submissions window opens February 1 and closes May 31, 2026. To enter, visit our submissions page.

Dappled Things will announce the winner on July 22, 2026, the first anniversary of Jane’s passing.