2007 Rhysling Award—Short Poem: Rich Ristow
Winning poem: "The Graven Idol's Godheart."

In 1974, Rich Ristow was born in Bittburg, Germany. His parents were, at the time, educators for the Department of Defense Dependant Schools. From there, he's lived in England, Bermuda, Belgium, The Netherlands, West Virginia, and North Carolina. He holds degrees from West Virginia University, and in 2004, he earned a MFA in poetry from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Currently, he and his wife live in New Jersey.

2007 Rhysling Award—Long Poem: Mike Allen
Winning poem: "The Journey to Kailash"

Mike Allen got the idea for "The Journey to Kailash" when his slam-poet friend John Peery spun a story about his new stepfather, who happened to be named "Ganesh." (If you can't tell, Mike is holding a round icon of the Hindu god Ganesh underneath his Rhysling plaque.) Mike has won the Rhysling three times now, and for some reason he still isn't filthy rich. He has, however, sold poems to lots of places (The Philadelpia Inquirer called his work "poetry for goths of all ages") and had fiction turn up recently in Helix, H.P. Lovecraft's Magazine of Horror, and Cabinet des Fées. He's editor of the poetry zine Mythic Delirium and the fiction anthology Clockwork Phoenix. He lives in Roanoke, VA, with his wife Anita, a comical dog and a demonic cat.