TELLURIDE, Colo. (KREX) — On Thursday, the Telluride Institute's Talking Gourds Poetry Program announced Fruita resident Alicia Rebecca Meyers as the winner of the eighth Annual Cantor Prize for Poetry for her poem "On the Anniversary of My Due Date, You Ask to Braid My Hair."

The Cantor Poetry Prize is awarded annually to poets from Colorado who submit a poem of any subject or poets from around the world who submit a poem about the Centennial state. In 2025, the contest saw 146 entries from 108 poets, mostly from Colorado, but had entries from across the nation and the world, such as California, New Mexico, Ohio and Tzafon, Israel.

The preliminary judge for the contest was Talking Gourds Director Art Goodtimes and the final judge was José "Tony" Alcántara.

"[Meyer's] poem gifts us the

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