He has won a Pushcart Prize, and in 2014 was awarded a $20,000 Creative Workforce Fellowship from Cleveland's Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC).
His poems appear frequently on Garrison Keillor’s NPR program, The Writer's Almanac, and in Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry.
The accessibility that is so often frowned upon by 'serious' poetry instructors invites readers into George's world of cafes where everyday observations take on archetypal importance.
"[8] John Freeman, writing in The Plain Dealer, said of Imperial, "Manipulating a reader's pace with punctuation, or lack thereof, Bilgere gives us the sense we’re not just there—we’re him, watching.
[9] Michael Heaton, reviewing Blood Pages for the Plain Dealer, said: "When I read his stuff, I always marvel at his ability to take the events of everyday life and make them transcendently sacramental and at the same time gently hilarious.