PB POETRY FESTIVAL Applauds The Winners Of High School Poetry Contest 2019

Susan R. Williamson, Director of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, and Blaise Allen, Ph.D., the Festival's Director of Community Outreach, today announced the winners of the annual Palm Beach County High School Poetry Contest. The 15th annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival runs January 21-26 at Old School Square in Delray Beach.

The $200 first place prize went to Emma Garrett, 15 from Palm Beach Gardens, a sophomore at A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, for her poem A Note Left Under the Universe's Front Porch. Her sponsoring teacher is Theresa Beermann.

The next four $100 winners are in order of their finish:

+ Yvelande Senatus, 16 from Boynton Beach, a junior at Atlantic Community High School in Delray Beach, for her poem Woman at Point Zero. Her sponsoring teacher is Tracy Bartels.

+ Citlalli Vellaseñor, 18 from Wellington, a senior at Dreyfoos School of the Arts, for her poem Roots: Trapped in the Land of the Free. The sponsoring teacher is Brittany Rigdon.

+ Kristen Thies, 17 from Royal Palm Beach, a junior at Wellington Community High School, for her poem I'll Mourn for Me. Her sponsoring teacher is Flora Rigolo.

+ Eden Brown, 18 from Palm Beach Gardens, a senior at Dreyfoos School of the Arts, for her poem Perfectly Balancing. Her sponsoring teacher is Brittany Rigdon.

"This year the Palm Beach Poetry Festival High School Poetry Contest received more than 320 submissions," says Dr. Allen. "Once again, our discerning judges were Dr. Jeff Morgan from Lynn University in Boca Raton and Professor Lorraine Stanchich-Brown from Nova University"

"The Poetry Festival has been honored to work with high school teachers throughout Palm Beach County for nearly a decade and a half. We have visited hundreds of classrooms to discuss the craft of poetry and encourage students to write original poems, and every year we are amazed by the quality of their submitted work. In fact, many of our past winners have gone to college to become teachers themselves, and we are always hopeful that the Festival is nurturing a future Poet Laureate of the United States," she adds.

The five winning high school poets read their poems at the Festival's Award Ceremony on Monday, January 21 where they had the opportunity to meet and have their pictures taken with 10 of America's most distinguished and award-winning poets, as well as have their winning poems published online on the Festival's official website at www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org.

About the Palm Beach Poetry Festival 2019:

The 15th annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival runs January 21-26 at Old School Square in Delray Beach. Special Guest Poet is Sharon Olds, the author of 11 books of poetry and winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. The 2017 Pulitzer Prize winner Tyehimba Jess is the Festival's first Poet-at-Large.

Nine distinguished poets are leading poetry-writing workshops at the Festival: Ellen Bass, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Stuart Dischell, Aracelis Girmay, Campbell McGrath, Mathew Olzmann, Gregory Pardlo, Chase Twichell and Eleanor Wilner, with individual conferences offered by nationally acclaimed poets: Lorna Knowles Blake, Sally Bliumis-Dunn and Nickole Brown. The Festival will feature these top poets at numerous ticketed public events, including readings, talks, interviews, panel discussions and more.

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is presented in partnership with Old School Square and is generously sponsored by Art Works of the National Endowment for the Arts, Morgan Stanley, The Legacy Group of Morgan Stanley's Atlanta, GA office, the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, The Tourist Development Council of Palm Beach County; the Board of Commissioners of Palm Beach County, The Palm Beach Post, a grant from Visit Florida, WLRN-FM, and Murder on the Beach, Delray Beach's independent bookseller.

In 2010, the Palm Beach Poetry Festival received an Arts Challenge Grant from The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; and in 2011, it was presented with The Muse Award for Outstanding Cultural Organization (with a budget under $500,000) by the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County.

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

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