Washington Poets Association Announces Student Contest Winners

(More information: Karen Bonaudi, 509/765-0193, kbonaudi@earthlink.net)
(Example entry form... for next year.)

The Washington Poets Association (WPA) has announced the winning students and poems in their 2004 student competitions. Winning students ranged in age from 6th-12th grades and from all across the state-Seattle to Colville to Richland to Longview-in location.

"The students showed a mastery of language that was very mature," said Richland poet Lorri Lambert-Smith, who was one of the judges and serves on the WPA board. "Some of the traditional poems, like the sonnets and villanelle, are quite complex and the winning students rose to the challenge."

In addition to cash prizes for the three top awards in each category and honorable mention certificates, winning students have been invited to read their winning poems at the WPA Burning Word Festival, April 24 at Greenbank Farm on Whidbey Island.

The winners are:

Homer Henderson Award (Grades 10-12), free verse

First Place: "grownup"
Kristina Faccone (11th grade)
Roosevelt High School, Seattle
Teacher: Thomas Nolet

Second Place: "The Fates"
Amanda Sterling (10th grade)
Coupeville High School, Coupeville
Teacher: S. Moore

Third Place: "The Hooker"
Celeste Curry (12th grade)
Ingraham High School, Seattle
Teacher: Toni Ciardullo

Honorable Mention: "Chameleon Sky"
Maire Marshall (12th grade)
Roosevelt High School, Seattle
Teacher: Thomas Nolet

Betty Fukuyama Award (Grades 6-12), traditional verse in rhyme and meter

First Place: "The Weather of Betrayal" (villanelle)
Cailen McDevitt (8th grade)
Eckstein Middle School, Seattle
Teacher: Shelley Tucker

Second Place: "Colors" (traditional verse in rhyme)
Sheila Audinet (8th grade)
Cascade Middle School, Longview
Teacher: Dawn Julian

Third Place: "Fire" (Shakespearean sonnet)
Emily Stratton (8th grade)
Homeschool, Colville
Teacher: Linda Stratton

Honorable Mention: "Lake" (sonnet)
Amanda Sterling (10th grade)
Coupeville High School, Coupeville
Teacher: S. Moore

Tome Erdmann Totem Award (Grades 6-9), free verse

First Place: "The Awe of Perspective"
Kelsey Bacon (8th grade)
Hanford Middle School, Richland
Teacher: Maureen McQuerry

Second Place: "The Trunk in the Attic"
Bridget Jones (9th grade)
Bishop Blanchet High School, Seattle
Teacher: Diane Valach

Third Place: "Captured Freedom"
Allison Wallace (8th grade)
Hanford Middle School, Richland
Teacher: Maureen McQuerry

Honorable Mention: "Wind in the Forest"
Natalie Raymond (8th grade)
Eckstein Middle School, Seattle
Teacher: Anne Scott

Honorable Mention: "War"
Noah Baker (8th grade)
Eckstein Middle School, Seattle
Teacher: Shelley Tucker

Honorable Mention: "I Hold in My Hand . . ."
Keely Rasmussen (6th grade)
Sacajawea Middle School, Federal Way
Teacher: Joyce Gran

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