Senior Saria Rosenhaj recently became the first person in the history of the DeSales University Poetry Festival to win the Carol Ann Robertson Award twice.

The judges wrote that her winning poem, “On Escaping,” is noteworthy for its bold imaginative leaps; its strong images, such as the “tea kettle whistling the end of a ghost tune;” and its impeccable ending, which combines a superb use of imagistic detail with an understated and powerful closing line: “…my cousins/precariously propped on the counter/each chewing on the heel of a day-old baguette/a reminder to finish what we’ve started.” Saria also won the Robertson prize in 2015 for her poem, “Plum.”

This year’s contest also honored senior Mia Panzak’s poem, “White Linens,” with an honorable mention award. It was the second honorable mention prize for Mia from the DeSales festival.