The ruth weiss Foundation Annual Poetry Awards & Ceremony
In partnership with Caesura Publishers
Location: Counter-Cultural Museum, 1485 Haight Street (NE corner of Haight & Ashbury), San Francisco
Date: Saturday, December 13, 2025
Time: 6:00–8:00 PM (PT)
The ruth weiss Foundation (rwF)—dedicated to preserving and celebrating the literary legacy of ruth weiss (1928–2020)—announces its Fifth Annual Poetry Awards and Ceremony, held at San Francisco’s new Counter-Cultural Museum in the heart of Haight-Ashbury. This historic venue, rooted in the spirit of artistic rebellion, provides a fitting stage to honor ruth weiss’s creative influence.
2025 Theme: Ekphrastic Poetry
This year’s theme, Ekphrastic Poetry—poems inspired by visual art—drew submissions from around the world, including cinepoems that merge poetry and film.
Award Categories & Winners:
Maverick Poet Award ($1,200 + Publishing) — Dagne Forrest, “A Study in Light”
Emerging Poet Award ($1,000) — Lulu Lenam, “The Waiting Time”
Youth Poet Award ($800) — Arabella Rose Gray, “Ace of Hearts”
Cinepoem Awards ($250 each) — Pracheta Ahana Alam, “The Indiscriminate Sun” & Natasha Abrahams, “Balloon Man”
Honorable Mention (Youth, $250) — Calandrea Tzema, “I’m Still Here”
Founder’s Award ($200) — Jen Schneider, “Dispatches from the Future—Lady Adjusters Spend a Day in the Archives of the U.S. Treasury”
An Evening of Poetic Celebration
Curated by Kimy Knight and Bill Cozzini of Caesura, art & literary journal of PCSJ, with special guest Kim Shuck, former Poet Laureate of San Francisco. The evening will feature live readings, performances, and an exhibition of ruth weiss’s poem-paintings. Estelle Cimino, Co-Founder of the Counter-Cultural Museum, will deliver opening remarks.
Honoring the Beat Legacy
Hosting this year’s awards at the Counter-Cultural Museum celebrates the enduring legacy of the Beat Generation—and ruth weiss’s trailblazing role within it.
About the Foundation
Co-founded by Dr. Elisabeth P. Montgomery and Melody C. Miller, the ruth weiss Foundation is a nonprofit supporting poets and interdisciplinary artists through grants, awards, and education. The pair also co-produced ruth weiss: The Beat Goddess (Emmy Award, 2023).