Netwest Was Represented at Poetry Day

Netwest members, Barbara Gabriel and Robert S. King, accompanied me to Hickory NC where the Poetry Council of North Carolina held their annual Poetry Day.
Scott Owens, Vice President of PCNC, teacher at Catawba Valley Community College brought the event to Hickory where the college served as venue Saturday. In years past, Poetry Day was held too far away from those of us who live in the western part of the state to attend without spending the night. We had a pleasant three-hour drive over and came home the same day.

The winners of the Poetry Council’s poetry contests are published in Bay Leaves, the annual anthology published by Main Street Rag. Bay Leaves is dedicated to an outstanding poet each year. David Manning received this honor today. Last year our own Nancy Simpson was honoree.

Susan Lefler from Brevard, NC

Susan Lefler’s book, Rendering the Bones, won Honorable Mention in the Poetry Book contest. Susan is from Brevard. As usual she gave a lovely reading. Those who attend Coffee with the Poets in Hayesville will remember Susan reading here last year.

Katherine Soniat was named winner of this year’s Oscar Arnold Young Award for The Swing Girl, judged the best book of poetry from NC in the previous year.

Katherine Soniat, first prize for book published in 2011

Another winner from our area is Peg Russell who placed in the Traditional Poetry contest. Peg hails from Murphy, North Carolina. She was not present for the reading today.

Congratulations, Peg and Susan. The far-west region overflows with poets. So why don’t we see more writers and poets from Netwest submitting poems to the wide variety of contests held by the Poetry Council of North Carolina for next year? The contests are for adults and children. Few children enter, it seems, and our talented young writers would have a great chance to win a prize.

Submissions for 2013 will be called for in August of 2012. Plan now to go to the 

website for for more information. Ask local teachers to help the children participate.

Scott Owens at podium

Scott will be in our area May 11 and 12 to read at Writers Night Out and to hold a workshop at Writers Circle.

               Winner of the Poetry Slam, from Winston-Salem, Bob Moyer 

Poetry in North Carolina - You don't want to miss this

LOTS OF NEWS FROM THE POETRY COUNCIL OF NORTH CAROLINA



The Poetry Council of NC is keeping quite busy these days, planning for its annual Poetry Day on October 1, 2011 in Salisbury, NC while simultaneously starting up a new cycle of contests whose deadline for entry is November 21.

Poetry Day is a day-long celebration of poetry that will be held this year in the Crystal Peeler Lounge on the campus of Catawba College. Highlights of Poetry Day will include presentation of the 2011 Poetry Council contest winners, readings by those winners, the release of the council’s awards anthology titled Bay Leaves, and a live Poetry Slam competition.

The event is open to anyone, and reservations may be made via the form found on the council’s website: http://www.poetrycouncilofnc.wordpress.com/.



In 2012, the Council is moving Poetry Day from October to April to coincide with National Poetry Month.

To facilitate this transition, the Council’s annual contests have already opened for submission and will close on November 21.

The Council coordinates separate competitions for

Elementary School students

Middle School students, and

High School students, as well as

Adult competitions for free verse, traditional form poetry, light verse, and others.



The Oscar Arnold Young Award is given to the best book of poems by a NC poet each year. Information on entering any of the contests is available on the Council’s website or by calling Ed Cockrell at 919-967-5834.

Entry in the youth contests is free, while most of the other categories have a $5 entry fee. First, second, and third place prizes ranging from $10 to $100 are given in most categories, and up to three honorable mentions are commonly named in each.

All prizewinners and honorable mentions are published in Bay Leaves, and the poets are invited to read their poems at Poetry Day.

In 2012, Poetry Day will be held in Hickory NC, in the new Student Center on the campus of Catawba Valley Community College. (This is much closer to our western writers than Weymouth where it has been held in the past.)

Teachers interested in facilitating their students’ participation in the contests can contact Nancy Posey (nposey@embarqmail.com) for high school students or Michael Beadle (beadlepoet@yahoo.com) for elementary and middle school students.

Scott Owens, is available to visit classrooms in his local area to discuss these contests or coordinate workshops to get students started writing poetry. He can be reached at asowens1@yahoo.com.

In south western NC, contact Glenda Beall for information on the contests.


Information for this post comes from Scott Owens who will be in Hayesville, NC for a workshop at Writers Circle on Saturday, October 15.