Winner of the second annual Harriss Poetry Prize, Famous by Bruce Sager was called a "tour de force" by contest judge Dick Allen. Allen, Connecticut's Poet Laureate, described the poet's voice as "self-conscious, knowledgeable, confident, wacky, exuberant" He continued: "Only twice before, in the many times I've judged poetry contests, has a poet's work stood out as strongly as Sager's." Launched in 2009, the Harriss Poetry Prize is named in honor of Clarinda Harriss, eminent Baltimore poet, publisher, and professor of English.