PB POETRY FESTIVAL Announces Winner Of Ekphrastic Poetry Contest 2018

Susan R. Williamson, Director of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, today announced the winners of the Looking Glass Poetry Contest. To enter, writers were encouraged to submit up to 30 lines of original poetry inspired by one of 8 designated works of art that were part of the Looking Glass exhibit at the Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square in Delray Beach.

The Looking Glass exhibition delved into ways in which visual artists approach ideas of reflection and perception. The unique artworks on display allowed viewers to actually see themselves in the works and to "find a sense of belonging in the Cornell Art Museum."

"April is National Poetry Month and the Ekphrastic Poetry Contest results are a celebration of 'the image' in literary and visual art," said Miles Coon, founder of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival. "We were pleased to see that poets visited the museum locally and virtually, and we received entries from 25 different states and 13 foreign countries, including Kharkov, Ukraine; Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada; and Mumbai, India."

Five winners were selected to receive cash prizes including $100 for the first prize and four awards of $25 each. The $100 First Place Prize goes to Linda Flaherty Haltmaier, of Andover, MA, who was inspired by Outer Reflection by Lilibeth Rassmussen. The winning poem was titled, The Muses.

The awards were as follows:

FIRST PLACE: The Muses by Linda Flaherty Haltmaier

SECOND PLACE: phantoms by Dmitry Blizniuck

THIRD PLACE: Elsa's Staircase by Jen Karetnick

FOURTH PLACE: French Existentialist Bulldog by Stefan David Martin

FIFTH PLACE: Covering Up by Blake Mason

Five HONORABLE MENTIONS were selected and recognized: Personified Lightness by Melissa Renaud; The Press of Light by Paul Weigel; So, Glitzy Gals by Erika Michael; Muse by Feby Joseph; and Façade for Siri by Jennifer Greenberg.

Contest Judge Stephen Gibson, of West Palm Beach, and author of seven award-winning poetry collections, hailed the winning submission as "a terrific poem that brings in Greek myth, Whitman, Emily Dickinson, T. S. Eliot, Homer, and poets right up to the present. Precise in its imagery and spot-on in its tone-a wonderful work."

"The Palm Beach Poetry Festival, through our collaborations with cultural organizations throughout the county, seeks to provide opportunities for artistic expression based on photography, painting, the heavens, the Everglades, and more," said Coon.

"We were thrilled to join with Cornell Art Museum of Delray Beach for this contest," added Williamson.

The 15th annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival will be held next January 21-26, 2019 at Old School Square in Delray Beach. The Festival features top poets at numerous ticketed public events, including readings, talks, interviews, panel discussions and more. Eight workshops will be offered for which applications are required.

The 2019 Palm Beach Poetry Festival is sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts; Visit Florida; Morgan Stanley & The Legacy Group of Atlanta; the Cultural Council of Palm County, the Palm Beach County Tourism Development Council and the Board of Commissioners of Palm Beach County; The Palm Beach Post; Visit Florida; WLRN; and Murder on the Beach, Delray Beach's independent bookseller.

For more information about the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, please visit www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.