IWA Annual Poetry Contest Winners 2005-2009


2005

Adult Category Winner
First Place: Corey Habbas for Olives Under Stones

Youth Category Winner
First Place: Kloude for The Boy Warrior
 
2006

Adult Category Non-IWA Member Winners
First Place: Juli Herman for More than a Prophet
and
First Place: Sister L. Bayaa for Sadaqa ar Rasool

IWA Member Category Winner
First Place: Karen English for Muhammad

Youth Category Winner
First Place: Mohamed Ali for Beginning to End

Child Category Winner
First Winner: Sabahat Fatima for I Love Mohammed

Many thanks to the judges for the 2006 Poetry Contest:

Rukhsana Khan, author
Samantha Sanchez, poet
Dasham Brookins, MuslimPoet.com

2007

Adult Category Winner
First Place: Yahia Samir Lababidi  for Desert Revisited

IWA Member Category Winner
First Place: Julinar Diab for Unequal

Youth Category Winners:
First Place: Raneen Hijazi  for My Birthday
and
First Place: Nabeela Dana for Snow

2008


Adult Category Winner:
First Place: Sara Younis for My Iman Lies Within Me

IWA Member Category Winner:
First Place: Camilla Sayf for A Haiku

Youth Category Winner:
First Place: Ayesha Ni'mat Fulani for What is Iman?

Judging for the 2008 IWA Poetry Contest was done by a public vote,
allowing public viewing of all entries and holding an online voting poll.

2009

Adult Category Winner
Ertan Karpazli for Earthquake

Youth Category Winner
Saara Khalid for The Pen and Sword

IWA Member Category Winner
Marwa Elnaggar for The Key

Many thanks to the judges of the 2009 Poetry Contest:
Adult Judge: Brother Dash - Dasham Brookins, MuslimPoet.com
IWA Member Judge: Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore
Youth Category Judge: Karen English, Children's Author

2010


Adult Category Winner
Farah Razeena Abduz-Zahir for Cherry Blossom

Youth Category Winner
Haseena Abdur-Rahman for A Simple Piece of Cloth

IWA Member Category Winner
Enith Morillo for Daddy

Congratulaions to the winners, and our thanks to all those who participated by submitting to the contest, as well as much thanks to the judges. Three judges had been contracted originally, with the need for an alternate in addition due to the unexpected need in extending the deadline of this year's contest.

Dr. Mohja Kahf: poet author of "Girl in the Tangerine Scarf" and "Emails from Scheherazad"

Dima Hilal: writer and poet with her work appearing in Aramco, The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology, edited by Nathalie Handal (Interlink Books, 2001) and Scheherazade's Legacy: Arab and Arab American Women on Writing,  (Praeger, 2004).

Karen English: author of several children's books including award winning "Francie", "Speak to me and I will listen between the lines" and "Nadia's Hands"

Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood: British Muslim author of over 40 books on various topics in Islam and developer of a textbook "Islam" used in UK schools for 20 year