The Return of the SymmyS: Pleasing Palindromes from All Over
The annual awards feature an international array of palindromists.
On 2/20/2022 (palindromic in the American date format), it’s the perfect time to announce the winners of the annual SymmyS Awards for best new palindromes. Mark Saltveit, editor of The Palindromist Magazine, has been awarding the SymmyS ever year since 2013. This year’s winners span the globe, illustrating that it’s truly an international competition (though the palindromes are all in English, at least so far). And with several first-time winners, it’s clear that the ranks of palindromists continue to grow. (The 2020 documentary The Palindromists, which you can catch on streaming services, features Mark and many of the SymmyS winners; see our Beyond Wordplay coverage of the film here. And you can find our coverage of last year’s SymmyS here.)
This year, the SymmyS category for Visual Palindromes was particularly strong, with the winner also being named by the panel of judges as the overall Grand Prize winner. (See below for the list of distinguished judges.) The top palindrome is a collaboration between Doug Fink, a technical writer from Connecticut, and Jon Agee, an author/illustrator from San Francisco. Another of the top Visual Palindromes by Martin Clear, a programmer from Sydney, Australia, came in second place overall.
VISUAL PALINDROMES
1. “Mariah Carey” by Doug Fink (writer) and Jon Agee (artist)
2. “A Bad Egg” by Jon Agee
3. “Mesa” by Martin Clear
Here are the winners in the other categories. Congratulations to all!
SHORT PALINDROMES
1. “English Teacher’s Lament” by Win Emmons (retired, Texas, USA)
In word salad, alas, drown I.
2. “At The Fruit Stand” by Kenneth Kelbrook (theatre director, Brantford, Ontario, Canada)
Emily, nab an apple. Help Pa nab any lime.
3. “Lights off, please” by Titus Meyer (Author and part-time bookseller, Berlin)
Dim it, Miss. I’m timid.
MID-LENGTH PALINDROMES
1. “Nightlife” by Anthony Etherin (poet, Shropshire, England)
Nightlife’s a boozy zoo: base filth, gin.
2. “Fast Art” by Martin Clear (programmer, Sydney, Australia)
Draw a deep snowy Alp-side: display won speed award.
3. “Brusque” by Peter Sabra (librarian, Watertown, Massachusetts USA)
No, I suffered no fondness. To idiots send no fonder effusion.
LONG PALINDROMES
1. “A Regal Bar” by Anthony Etherin
Regal. A bar. Gin is evil. “O, to help martini gin, I trample hot olives in.” I grab a lager.
2. “Catnap” by Lori Wike (bassoonist, Salt Lake City, Utah USA)
I’m a wonder.
I, to span taciturn rut, I catnap.
So tired now am I.
3. “Ustinov’s Legacy” by Martin Clear
One film I held a lot. No televised old lost film — lift it in. I see Peter Ustinov on it. Sure, tepees in it. It — film — lifts. Old lodes I’ve let on to ladle him life, no?
POETRY
1. “The Palindromist’s Lament (a palimerick)” by John Falcone (bassoonist, Oviedo, Spain)
Loop an ode reversed, o fool!
As midnight nets mirth, sad, I rule.
Lurid ash trims;
Tenth gin dims
Aloof odes revered on a pool.
2. “Film Noir” by Anthony Etherin
Prepare trope:
Resume mad,
arid antihero.
Man in a motel,
at a femme fatale,
to man in a more hit nadir.
A dame,
muse,
reporter —
a perp.
3. “The Bard Grows Old (Palindrome-Sonnet)” by Anthony Etherin
Emit a null
lore. Mirth gilts all.
Like rule, we dull,
as, drab, we fall.
Eye rust. Eye bold.
Rage, regal law:
A rose so old —
eyed loose, so raw.
All age regard —
Lo! Be yet sure.
Yell! A few bards
allude we lure.
Kill last, light rime —
roll Luna, time.
JUDGES
Michael Beaney, Regius Professor of Logic at the University of Aberdeen
Michael Fontaine, Cornell University classics professor and author of many books including How to Drink
Jeff Grant, author of The Palindromicon (and former SymmyS winner)
Johann Jeuring, professor of Software Technology at the Institute of Information and Computing Sciences of Utrecht University, the Netherlands
Myq Kaplan, standup comedian
Margaret Malone, short story author
Ove Michaelsen, musician and author of Words at Play: Quips, Quirks and Oddities
Zach Sherwin, comedian and creator of “The Crossword Show”
Will Shortz, New York Times crossword puzzle editor
Ben Zimmer, language columnist for the Wall Street Journal
One of the SymmyS winners, Anthony Etherin, hosts The Penteract Podcast, an offshoot of The Penteract Press. Check out the most recent episode here, in which Anthony talks to Beyond Wordplay’s Eric Chaikin and Ben Zimmer about palindromes and all manner of serious wordplay.
Finally, if you happen to be in Edinburgh, Scotland this August (when The Fringe Festival will be going on), you can see Mark Saltveit and Anthony Etherin host a show combining palindromes and standup comedy. Here are the details:
Palindrome Fight!
The Kilderkin Pub
67 Canongate, Edinburgh EH8 8BT
7:30pm every night from August 6–28th
You can see a previous Palindrome Fight in this deleted scene from the documentary The Palindromists, featuring Zach Sherwin, Myq Kaplan, and Dax Jordan.
