GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The winners of the Grand Rapids Public Library's Dyer-Ives Poetry Competition will read their poems at the library's main branch downtown on June 3rd.
The winners of the 55th annual contest were announced Monday (see below). The event is part of the Festival of the Arts, which runs from June 2nd to June 4th. Every February, poems are accepted from Kent County residents of all ages, and winners receive cash prizes and an invitation to read at the Awards Reading.
The competition was initiated in 1968 by John Hunting, founder of the Dyer-Ives Foundation, to encourage excellence in writing and provide recognition for local work of high quality. The program is supported by a grant from the Grand Rapids Public Library Foundation - Dyer-Ives Foundation Poetry Fund.
The winning entries:
Grades K – 2 1st Place - Fischer Feenstra, A Monkey’s Day 2nd Place - Evelyn Wiegand, In the Meadow Honorable Mention Theo Lasley, What About My Poem?
Grades 3 – 4 1st Place - Diana Dehring, The Shy Beauty 2nd Place - Maxwell Ge, King Cobra Honorable Mention Kai Feenstra, Listening to the Birds Jubie Steed, None
Grades 5 – 6 1st Place - Caius Sir Bhageatsingh, The Leader in Me? 2nd Place - Lilly Gubala, Unknown Honorable Mention Emmanuel Guzman-Colter, Cat Griffin Mendel, why are we like this
Grades 7 – 8 1st Place - Teagan Crowther, Winter Without Apricity 2nd Place - Melinho Frausto Kukla, Keep It Together Honorable Mention Ruby Parler, An Ode to K9
Grades 9 – 10 1st Place - El Goossen, Synesthesia 2nd Place - Naiara K. Tamminga, My Sunrise Honorable Mention Sami Russell, 92 Days of Fall Adriana Suarez, The connection between
Grades 11 – 12 1st Place - Kaydence Gonzalez, Comfort Food 2nd Place - Tanvi Kulkarni, Distorted Home Honorable Mention Ava Tilley, IsIt Safe? Katelyn LaRue, Ode to the In Between
Undergraduate 1st Place - Ava Cica, The House Acrossthe Street 2nd Place - Saga, On DIY Heart Surgery 3rd Place - Hannah Rethman, What It Meansto Live Honorable Mention Taylor Hartley, I Am Not Allergic to Bees
Adult Category 1st Place - Molly J. Vander Werp, Lupine 2nd Place - Gerry Bose, Alzheimer Poetry 3rd Place - Jane Wheeler, While Having a Left Breast Biopsied Honorable Mention Nicholas Mourning, For Jessie Michael Sikkema, from Little Book of Light
The judging process takes the year’s entries through several levels of screening by local professors and poets of note, who look for mastery of language, engaging imagery, meaning, and that extra spark. 55th Annual Dyer-Ives Poetry Competition Reception Saturday, June 3, 2023, 2:00 - 3:00 pm Main Library - 111 Library Street NE.
Copies of this year's "Voices" publication will be available at the ceremony. Supported by a grant from the Grand Rapids Public Library Foundation-Dyer-Ives Foundation Poetry Fund, the library says in a news release that the competition is proud to carry on the mission to encourage excellence in writing and provide recognition for local work of high quality. For more information visit grpl.org or call 616-988-5400.
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