The Nebraska Writers Collective (NWC) is proud host to the annual Kate Sommer Memorial Poetry Prize for adults writing and living in Nebraska. The prize honors and celebrates Kate Sommer—beloved educator, advocate, parent, and writer.  

An English teacher at Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart for nineteen years, Kate taught, laughed, and encouraged young people to be their whole selves in Room 209, which was formally dedicated to her in 2016. Her commitment to living, teaching, and creating as her authentic self meant hundreds of students flocked to her English classroom during her tenure at Duchesne, where they were met with a warm and fiercely inclusive educator who believed in the power of words. Under Kate’s compassionate guidance and mentorship, students simply thrived. 

Magnanimous, funny and wise, several graduating classes at Duchesne nominated Kate to deliver a faculty address at their commencement ceremony, where she gave her speeches with such impassioned confidence, it was as if the words might manifest themselves right off the page for her students and their futures. Kate did not merely hope for her students. She knew they would lead rich lives full of advocacy, community, and creativity because they had already spent four years displaying those skills at 3601 Burt Street.   

Kate self-published The Pine Street Chronicles, an essay collection with creative contributions from her siblings, and wrote short stories that were incisive, quirky, and funny. She was a beautiful equilibrium of abstract and articulate, and wrote on any scrap of paper in any room of the house, leaving tiny notes, reminders, and images on receipts, notebook paper, envelopes. This means that—among other places—her handwriting is preserved on her daughter’s recipe cards, a welcome addition to homemade meals.    

Kate and her husband Leonard forged an incredible bond in their 37 years together that only grew stronger as they raised their children, Emily and James. Like her classroom, Kate’s home was inclusive and safe, one where Emily and James were given the gift of space to discern their own likes, dispositions, and creative endeavors. “You couldn’t ask for a better parent,” says daughter, Emily.    

The organizer of Omaha’s first Race for the Cure and a pioneer in creating the Nebraska Affiliate chapter of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Kate was a cancer survivor and tireless community advocate for women, girls, and those facing a breast cancer diagnosis. 

Kate is missed by anyone who had the privilege of being on the receiving end of her smile. 

There is no doubt about it—Kate would be jazzed that this prize exists.

We invite you to listen to "Godspeed," a poem written and performed by a Duchesne student the year after Kate's passing.

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>> The 2026 Kate Sommer Memorial Prize guest judge, Trace Peterson, will decide the finalists and winner of the contest.

Trace Peterson's most recent book is The Valleys Are So Lush and Steep, which won the 2025 Alma Book Award from Saturnalia and was a Finalist for the 2025 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in Women's Studies. Her first bookSince I Moved Inwon the Gil Ott Award and was reprinted in a second edition with an introduction by Joy Ladin in 2019. Peterson edits the small press EOAGH which has won a National Jewish Book Award in Poetry and two Lambda Literary Awards including the first-ever Lammy in Transgender Poetry. She also co-edited the groundbreaking anthologyTroubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics(Nightboat, 2013) which is currently in its fourth printing. Previously the N.E.H. Fellow in Poetics at Emory University's Fox Center, she currently teaches English and Women's Studies at UConn.

>> Contest details:

• The prize will $1,000 awarded to one winner selected by our guest judge.
• Must be ages 19+ to submit.
• Must be a resident of Nebraska.
• There is no entry fee.
• The winner will be announced early December.
•  The Nebraska Writers Collective is proud to announce this year's winner will be featured in a digital edition of The Good Life Review in early 2027!

>> Submission details:

• Submission period: Sept. 7-Oct. 16.
• Submissions may contain up to 3 poems and may not exceed a total of 10 pages.
• Poems must be previously unpublished.
• Each poem should appear on a new page.
• Poems must be written in Times New Roman, 12 pt. font.
• Please include all poems within one document.
• You may include your name within your creative submission.
• Submissions will be read exclusively through Submittable. (It does not cost money to create a Submittable account.)

     The Nebraska Writers Collective (NWC) believes that the spoken and written word fosters personal empowerment and creates community. We recognize and honor the deep history of both the spoken word and oral tradition, and each one’s roots in Black, Brown, Indigenous and elder communities. We commit to helping writers across race, gender, age, sexuality, ability, religion, identity, and experience, turning a spotlight on their stories, listening to receive, and working together to create connections through language.