Call for student poets to Share the Words' at statewide conference
Treadwell The tenth anniversary of “Share the Words,” a high school poetry competition, will be held on Fri., May 19, at the Morris Conference Center in the State University of New York at Oneonta. Individual students from any school in New York State, as well as school teams, will compete for prizes that celebrate excellence in writing and presentation. The prizes include U.S. savings bonds, sets of Bright Hill Press books, and readings at Word Thursdays in Treadwell. The winning team will take home a traveling trophy, and a permanent banner in school colors, inscribed with the names of team members and their coach, who will be named Poetry Coach of the Year. Teams must include between five and 10 students, and must be sponsored by a school. There is a nominal fee for teams, as well as a nominal fee for lunch at Morris Hall, payable in advance. There is no fee for students entering as independent poets. First and second places will be awarded in the following categories: Graham Duncan Award for Formal Poem (any topic), Robert Winner Award for Nature Poem, Nicholas Alicino Award for Performance Poem (any topic), and Bright Hill Award for Free Verse Poem Addressing Current Events. Students must designate their entered poems as formal, nature, performance, or free verse, indicate the topic, and bring two copies of each poem, one for reading and one for the judges. The competition will run from 8:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. in three heats. Poets will read their original poetry to the audience, which will be judged by two poets and an educator or administrator. Dr. Marie Warchol, superintendent of Otsego Northern Catskills BOCES, and Bertha Rogers, poet laureate of Delaware County and director of Share the Words, will present the awards. The keynote poet will be Rogers, who will read, discuss her poetry, and answer questions between the second and final heats. Rogers’ books include “Even the Hemlock: Poems, Illuminations, Reliquaries,” “The Fourth Beast,” and “A House of Corners.” Her translation of “Beowulf,” an Anglo-Saxon epic, was published in 2000. Her poem “Rhomboid” received a PhiloPhonema Lyric Recovery Award, while “Truck Stand” was selected by John Ashbery for inclusion in the Millay Colony’s 30th Anniversary Exhibit. She has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony for the Arts, Hawthornden International Retreat for Writers, and Caldera, Hedgebrook, and Jentel arts colonies, and Teachers & Writers Collaborative. The event is funded in part by: Literature Program of the New York State Council on the Arts; A. C. Molinari Foundation; Tianaderrah Foundation; A. Lindsay and Olive B. O´Connor Foundation; Delaware Youth Bureau, under the auspices of the New York State Office of Children and Family Services; Delaware National Bank of Delhi, Stewart’s Shops, and area merchants and businesses.