Palm Beach Poetry Festival Announces Winners of 2015 Plein Air Poetry Contest

Delray Beach, FL -- Susan R. Williamson, Director of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, today announced the five top winners of this year's Plein Air Poetry Contest, in which writers were encouraged to submit original poems inspired by eight works from Plein Air Palm Beach's "En Plein Air" exhibit at the Cornell Museum at the Delray Beach Center for the Arts.

Plein Air refers to the art of painting in outdoor daylight, and the exhibit featured paintings of Delray Beach and other Palm Beach County locations.

After reviewing 109 entries from 23 different states, plus Canada and Indonesia, Contest Judge Stephen Gibson, author of numerous books of poetry, selected the top five winners:

1st Place: Lynne Knight of Berkeley, CA for "Another Version of the Many Ways He Left Me" - based on the painting "Misty Waters at Riverbend" by Chris Kling.
2nd Place: Todd Mercer of Grand Rapids, MI for "The Circle of Life" - based on "Ekphrastic on Gator at Loxahatchee Wetlands" by Kerry Ericksen.
3rd Place: Meredith Davies Hadaway of Chesterton, MD for "Gator at Loxahatchee Wetlands" - based on the painting by Kerry Ericksen.
4th Place: Jari Thymian of Sioux Falls, SD for "Cycling Open Roads Ghazal" - based on "All Pumped Up" by Manon Sander.
5th Place: Sheila Kelly of Pittsburgh, PA for "Enticements and Push Mowers" - based on the painting "Spring Rush at Jupiter Ridge" by Ruth Weiss.

"The gorgeous Plein Air exhibition at the Cornell Museum ran concurrently with the 11th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival, and we were thrilled by how local landscapes and images were given new life on canvas," said Festival Founder Miles Coon. "Art does that! It compels us to take the world in rather than overlook it."

"The Plein Air Poetry Contest is one of our National Poetry Month events in April, and it spotlights both poets and artists," added Williamson. "We hope to make this contest a model for future collaborations between the Poetry Festival and other cultural organizations in Palm Beach County."

"I am honored that my painting was an inspiration for a beautiful poem. It is icing on the cake that Lynne Knight's poem won First Place," said artist Chris Kling, who painted "Misty Waters at Riverbend." "I have copied the poem and will attach it to the back to always be with this painting."

The winning poet, Lynn Knight, will receive a $100 prize, and $25 will be given to each of the four runners-up. Their submitted poems -- along with another five "honorable mentions" -- can be read and appreciated by all on the Poetry Festival's website at palmbeachpoetryfestival.org/pleinaircontest.

The 12th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival will be held next January at the Delray Beach Center for the Arts. The Festival will once again be featuring top poets at numerous ticketed public events, including readings, talks, interviews, panel discussions and more. The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is generously sponsored by The National Endowment for the Arts, Morgan Stanley, the Windler Group of Morgan Stanley's Atlanta Office; 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, visit www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org.

Pictured: Misty Waters at Riverbend by Chris Kling

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