The 150 diverse poems in the 2019 Encore anthology were selected from nearly 7,000 submissions to fifty contest categories sponsored by the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. Winners represent states across the U.S., as well as the United Kingdom and Canada. Poets were challenged to write in such structured forms as pantoum, villanelle, trimeric, sonnet, 60-syllable minute, and blank verse. They gave fresh, personal interpretations to themes wide ranging as environmental issues, ekphrastic poems, and politics; cowboy poetry, cities, and cats; nature and humor. Poems in this collection were read, awarded, and applauded at the NFSPS convention in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We hope you will enjoy them in print.