Eliza Roxey Snow Memorial Prize Poems

This article is for the compilation of all the prize poems for the Eliza Roxey Snow Memorial Prize Poem Contest. The contest began in 1923, although no poems were published until 1924. Those of these poems published from 1924–1942 were included in Our Legacy: Relief Society Centennial Anthology of Verse, 1941. Here is a quote from the beginning of that book:

Part I brings together for the first time all the prize poems named in the Eliza Roxey Snow Memorial Poem Contest during the nineteen annual contests conducted since establishment of this memorial. This contest was inaugurated by the Relief Society in 1923 as a memorial to its former general president, the poet, Eliza R. Snow, and as a means of fostering poetic expression among the women of the Church. The gifted and highly intellectual Eliza R. Snow, who was a charter member and first secretary of Relief Society, and general president from 1866 to 1887, distinguished herself as an organizer and leader of women during the period when local Relief Societies were being established in the pioneer Mormon communities of the West. The prize-winning poems selected in each annual contest are published the following year in The Relief Society Magazine, and are therefore designated chronologically according to year of publication, rather than by year of the contest. In recognition of the Relief Society centennial in 1942, the 1941 contest was limited to poems with a Relief Society centennial theme.

Here is a quote regarding the contest from the July Ensign of 1977, from the article “Virtuous, Lovely, or of Good Report”: How the Church Has Fostered the Arts, By Ronald W. Walker and D. Michael Quinn:

In 1923 the Relief Society began its Eliza Roxey Snow Memorial Prize Poem Contest to promote Latter-day Saint writing, and followed it in 1942 with an annual prize for the best short story. The Relief Society’s annual Eliza R. Snow poetry contest for women is now published in the Ensign. The New Era offers magazine subscriptions, cash, and scholarships for excellence in writing, art, photography, and music composition by teenagers and young adults, while the Ensign gives adults cash prizes for articles, short stories, and poetry in its own annual contest.

List of Poems, as listed by year in Our Legacy: Relief Society Centennial Anthology of Verse, 1941

1924

1. The Dreamer, by Sarah Ahlstrom Nelson
2. Child, by Claire Stewart Boyer

1925

1. O White-Winged Gull, by Annie D. Palmer
2. The Pioneer Mother, by Alice Morrill

1926

1. Where Hollyhocks Grew, by Annie D. Palmer
2. Nativity, by Maud Chegwidden

1927

1. Riches, by Maud Chegwidden
2. To the Sego Lily, by Linda S. Fletcher

1928

1. Wasteland, by Ivy Houtz Woolley
2. Compensation, by Grace Ingles Frost

1929

1. My Neighbor, by Alice M. Walker
2. Etched, by Josephine Spencer

1930

1. One Sunrise, by Elsie E. Barrett
2. Extolled, by Linnie Fisher Robinson

1931

1. Abraham Lincoln, by Sarah Ahlstrom Nelson
2. “Unto the Least of These”, by Merling D. Clyde

1932

1. Pioneer Woman, by Rosannah Cannon
2. Autumn, by Beatrice Knowlton Ekman

1933

1. Sonnet of Loneliness, by Rosannah Cannon
2. Full Measure, by Alberta Huish Christensen

1934

• (Two poems received first prize this year.)

1. From out of the Ruins, by Elsie L. Parton
1. Prayer of the Trail, by Alberta Huish Christensen
2. The Mirage, by Roxana T. Hase

1935

1. Drought, by Vesta Pierce Crawford
2. To the Lean Years, by Alberta Huish Christensen

1936

1. Autumn, by Blanche Kendall McKey
2. Across the Years, by Beatrice Knowlton Ekman

1937

1. Plains' Cradle Song, by Veneta L. Nielsen
2. Blossomed Tree, by Vesta Pierce Crawford
3. The Greater Death, by Miranda Snow Walton

1938

1. No Beauty Is, by Anna Prince Redd
2. Memorial on the Plains, by Vesta Pierce Crawford
3. Pioneer Cabin, by Kathryn F. Clyde

1939

1. Cycle, by Helen Hinckley Jones
2. Always at Night, by Eva Willes Wangsgaard
3. Today I Gathered Roses, by Grace Zenor Pratt

1940

1. These Hills Are Home, by Veneta L. Nielsen
2. Transition, by Eddavene Zoan Houtz Bean
3. Where Art Thou, Love?, by Clara Horne Park

1941

1. Grains of Life, by Helen Candland Stark
2. Three Gifts, by La Verne Jensen Stallings
3. Restoration, by Elsie F. Parton

1942

1. Brave, Privileged Feet, by Eva Willes Wangsgaard
2. Spacious Century, 1842–1942, by Vesta Pierce Crawford
3. Centennial, by Zella A. Johnson