Ithaca poet and longtime Ithaca College writing professor Katharyn Howd Machan won third place in the 2026 New York State Fair Poetry Competition for her sonnet “Vineyard,” according to 14850.com.
The award comes with a $50 prize, and Machan is scheduled to perform the poem at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30, at the Empire Theater in the fair’s Wegmans Creative Arts Center.
“Vineyard” draws on Finger Lakes wine culture and reimagines the familiar fox-and-grapes fable through a recurring shape-shifting character in Machan’s work.
Winning and honorable-mention poems are also being displayed in the Wegmans Creative Arts Center throughout the fair.
Machan has lived in Ithaca since 1975, taught at Ithaca College since 1977 and previously served as Tompkins County’s first poet laureate.
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to news@fingerlakes1.com.