Earlier this month we congratulated Katherine Soniat on winning the Poetry Council of North Carolina’s 2011 Oscar Arnold Young Award for the best book of poetry for her collection, The Swing Girl. But the Poetry Council sponsors eight annual awards, granting cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, and publishing the winners in their annual anthology, Bay Leaves.
All 2011 winners have just been announced, and several NCWN members have been honored (in bold, below). All four finalists in the Oscar Arnold Young Award were members; Ross White proved himself a triple threat by seizing first place in three separate categories; and both Alice Osborn and Jane Shlensky were among the finalists in two separate categories.
The complete list of category winners and judges is as follows:
Oscar Arnold Young (book contest):
JUDGE: Paul Hostovsky, Medfield, MA& Ron Moran, Simpsonville, SC
1st The Swing Girl by Katherine Soniat, Asheville, NC
2nd Lie Down with Me by Julie Suk, Charlotte, NC
HM Renderingthe Bones by Susan M. Lefler, Brevard, NC
HM An Innocent in the House of the Dead by Joanna Catherine Scott, Chapel Hill, NC
Gladys Owings Hughes Heritage (freeverse):
JUDGE: Darnell Arnoult, Harrogate, TN
1st “Babies Hurtling Several Stories†by Ross White, Durham, NC
2nd “Daddy Imagines a Good Death†by JS Absher, Raleigh, NC
3rd “The Museum of Broken Things†by Jane Shlensky, Bahama, NC
Charles Shull (traditional poetry):
JUDGE: Paul Bone, Evansville, IN
1st “Facts about Early America†by Ross White, Durham, NC (rhyming couplets)
2nd “Basic Bad Day†by Peg Russell, Murphy, NC (terza rima)
3rd “Featured Reader†by Alice Osborn, Raleigh, NC (sestina)
HM “On aRecent Engagement†by Michael A. Moreno, Rockville, MD (sonnet)
HM “Waterthe Lover†by Ellen Summers, Greensboro, NC (sonnet)
James Larkin Pearson (free verse):
JUDGE: Felicia Mitchell, Emory, VA
1st “Address to Monarchs†by Ross White, Durham, NC
2nd “My Mother’s Lake†by Ann Campanella, Huntersville, NC
3rd “What Burns for Light†by Lisa Zerkle, Charlotte, NC
HM “Circumventing the Circumference†by Terry Collins, Mount Airy, NC
HM “ThingsFall Out of My Father†by Robert Moyer, Winston Salem, NC
HM “The Lesbians Next Door†by Alice Osborn, Raleigh, NC
Ellen Johnston-Hale (humorous verse):
JUDGE: Gloria Alden, Southington, OH
1st “Where Time Does Not Fly†by Susan Spalt, Carrboro, NC
2nd “The Voice†by Barbara Brooks, Hillsborough, NC
3rd “Arctic†by Lisa Zerkle, Charlotte, NC
HM “BlackFriday†by Doris Dix Caruso, Burlington, NC
HM “Patience†by Jane Shlensky, Bahama, NC
HM “I ThinkThey Got It!†by Janet Ireland Trail, Greensboro, NC
Charlotte Young (elementary school):
JUDGE: David Roderick, Greensboro,NC
1st “Jupiter†by Sydney Campanella (home-schooled), Huntersville, NC
2nd “Light Saves Us†by Paige Morrison (North Forest Pines Elem.), Wake Forest, NC
3rd “Blue†by Joellen Callahan (North Forest Pines Elem.), Wake Forest, NC
HM “Dovesâ€by Sonja Woolley (Episcopal Day School), Southern Pines, NC
HM “NatureWalk†by Lilly Corcoran (Episcopal Day School), Southern Pines, NC
Carol Bessent Hayman (middle school):
JUDGE: David Roderick, Greensboro,NC
1st “The Pledge of Sausage†by Devon Stocks (Clarkton School of Discovery), Clarkton, NC
2nd “Pumpkin Patch†by Kenneth More [sp?] (Clarkton School of Discovery), Clarkton,NC
Sam Ragan North Carolina Connection (high school):
JUDGE: Natasha Trethewey, Decatur,GA
1st “Lesson of the Lark” by Maggie Apple of North Guilford HighSchool
2nd Jennifer Comerford of North Guilford High School
Congratulations to all the finalists, especially those NCWN members!