March 27, 2009
Roxana Rivera poetry contest winners named
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Department of English at Southern Illinois University Carbondale announced the winners of the 2009 Roxana Rivera Memorial Poetry contest, and featured winners and the contest judge at a reading on Thursday, March 26, on campus.
The memorial contest honors a creative writing student who died while pursuing her master’s degree. The contest and reading are part of the Women’s History Month observance at SIUC. The contest is open to all students currently enrolled at SIUC, regardless of major. The theme this year was, “Like a Mother, Like a Daughter.”
This year’s judge was Stacey Lynn Brown, a poet on the creative writing faculty at SIU Edwardsville. Brown’s poetry collection, “Cradle Song,” is available from C&R Publishing. The collection focuses on Gaither, a black woman in the South. To learn more about Brown, visit her blog at http://staceylynnbrown.blogspot.com.
Contest winners in both undergraduate and graduate divisions receive $80 gift certificates for first place, $40 for second place and $25 for third place.
Here is a list of this year’s winners.
Undergraduate:
• First place -- Kate Gramlich, (Peoria), “bride not to be”
• Second place -- Kate Gramlich, (Peoria), “six and falling”
• Third place -- Joyce Terpstra, (Carbondale), “Veteran’s Day”
• Honorable mention -- Kate Gramlich, (Peoria), “things i should tell you”
Graduate
• First place -- Amie Whittemore, (Herrin) “The Movement of Heat”
• Second place -- Andy McFadyen-Ketchum, (Nashville, Tenn.) “To Touch the Moon”
• Third place -- Jonathan Travelstead, (Marion) “For Sean, From the Fire House”
• Honorable mention -- Rachel Furey, (Symrna, N.Y.) “Hey, ref, what’s up with the mercy rule?”
• Honorable mention -- Travis Mossotti, (St. Louis), “Oak Grove Cemetery”