Quiet Diamonds 2025 is the eighth edition of the Orchard Street Press’ annual poetry journal. This year, it includes 50 poems selected from the nearly 900 individual pieces submitted to the 2025 Orchard Street Press Poetry Contest. As in previous years, this collection has assembled some remarkable work by poets from across America.
In the spring of 2026, The Orchard Street Press conducted its ninth annual Poetry Contest. Nearly eight-hundred individual poems were submitted for consideration by poets from thirty-eight states. Of those, forty-two were selected for inclusion in Quiet Diamonds 2026. Three were chosen for the Contest’s cash awards. They are: “Foundry” by Jennifer Phillips of Barnstable, MA taking First Place, (winning the 2026 Malovrh-Fenlon Poetry Prize); “How the Forest Changes My Mind” by Tobi Alfier of Torrance, CA earning Second Place; and “Ripples” by Bill Griffin of Elkin, NC winning Third.
The Orchard Street Press is very pleased to announce the release of Energy and Stillness, the excellent new poetry collection by award-winning poet Bob Wickless of Reidsville, North Carolina.
Our next, the tenth annual Orchard Street Press Poetry Contest, marks the return of an event that, in its first nine seasons, has produced some wonderful poetry and nine editions of Quiet Diamonds (QD), our annual journal that grows in reputation with each passing year. We are especially pleased to announce that the Contest entry fee remains at $15.
