posted by: Kevin McFadden

(Sept. 29…Charlottesville, VA) The Virginia Arts of the Book Center, a program of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, is pleased to announce that Jnanam MacIsaac, of Charlottesville, VA, is the winner of the “Green Poems” contest, the fourth of the independent book arts studio’s annual broadside contests.

Poems were to engage the chosen theme—green—in any sense or context. Judges noted the subtle, epigrammatic quality of her poem, situated in the natural and environmentally conscious world:

Pesticicdal

I hunger
for birdsong
and the imperfect pear

“Pesticidal” will be made into a limited-edition letterpress broadside by VABC artists and will appear on Poetry Daily’s website.

Honorable mentions in the contest go to poets Dan Stryk (Bristol, VA) for “Overgrowth” and Lesley Wheeler (Lexington, VA) for “Spring-Sick.”

The Virginia Arts of the Book Center promotes the values of the humanities through appreciation of the arts of the book, visual and verbal literacy, creativity, and the fostering of traditional and contemporary skills. Selections for its annual contest on a rotating theme are made for high literary quality and suitability for visual interpretation. Information on next year’s contest will appear next spring on the virginiabookarts.org website.

***********

FULL CONTEST GUIDELINES:

Green. It’s the color of our money and the banner of our environment. It can be drab as olive or sharp as spring. Green Poems is a contest whose name says it all…but not so much that you can’t further the conversation. Envy? Pastures? Miles? Acres? We don’t mind where you take it–the ecological, the economical, the ecologonomical—just not too far afield of the low 500 nms of wavelength.

Supported by Poetry Daily and the Virginia Arts of the Book Center, Green Poems is a contest whose prize is a limited edition letterpress broadside and an appearance on Poetry Daily’s internationally reviewed website.

Grand Prize:

30 limited edition, letterpressed broadsides, created by artists at the VABC, and special publication of the winning poem on Poetry Daily (poems.com).

Contest Guidelines

Submission size: Two poems per submission. Each submission should have a separate entry form. Multiple submissions may be sent in the same entry packet, with appropriate forms and fees enclosed.

Entry fee: $15 per submission made payable to the “Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.” (The VABC is a program of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.)

Entry form: Get form by clicking HERE. For a printed form, send an SASE to: Green Poems-Form Request / Virginia Foundation for the Humanities /145 Ednam Drive / Charlottesville, VA 22903. Submissions received without a completed entry form will not be eligible.

Eligibility: Contest open to any poet(s) living and writing in the United States who are not employees, affiliates, or students of Poetry Daily, or the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Rights to works must reside with the submitting poets, though they may have been previously published. Poems must be original work by eligible submitters.

Considerations: No poem should be no longer than one 8.5”x11” page in 12 pt font. Poems should be stapled together and submitted “blind,” with identifying information appearing only on the entry form. Winning poems and honorable mentions may be made available online for a limited time on the VABC website, pending permission of the author.

Deadline: Submissions must be postmarked by July 1, 2009.

Notification: Winners will be announced in September 2009.

Judges: Poets and artists of the Virginia Arts of the Book Center. Selections will be made on literary merit, engagement of theme, and visual interest as a broadside. Judges are poets whose backgrounds are in publishing and book arts. Each has editorial experience with nationally recognized journals, anthologies, and/or prize committees, including the Virginia Quarterly Review, Best New Poets, Little Big Form, and recent VABC Companion Poems, Belle Letters, and Taste ‘Test contests.

Green. It’s the color of our money and the banner of our environment. It can be drab as olive or sharp as spring. Green Poems is a contest whose name says it all…but not so much that you can’t further the conversation. Envy? Pastures? Miles? Acres? We don’t mind where you take it the ecological, the economical, the ecologonomical—just not too far afield of the low 500 nms of wavelength.

Supported by Poetry Daily and the Virginia Arts of the Book Center, Green Poems is a contest whose prize is a limited edition letterpress broadside and an appearance on Poetry Daily’s internationally reviewed website.

Grand Prize:

30 limited edition, letterpressed broadsides, created by artists at the VABC, and special publication of the winning poem on Poetry Daily (poems.com).

Contest Guidelines

Submission size: Two poems per submission. Each submission should have a separate entry form. Multiple submissions may be sent in the same entry packet, with appropriate forms and fees enclosed.

Entry fee: $15 per submission made payable to the “Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.” (The VABC is a program of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.)

Entry form: Get form by clicking HERE. For a printed form, send an SASE to: Green Poems-Form Request / Virginia Foundation for the Humanities /145 Ednam Drive / Charlottesville, VA 22903. Submissions received without a completed entry form will not be eligible.

Eligibility: Contest open to any poet(s) living and writing in the United States who are not employees, affiliates, or students of Poetry Daily, or the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Rights to works must reside with the submitting poets, though they may have been previously published. Poems must be original work by eligible submitters.

Considerations: No poem should be no longer than one 8.5”x11” page in 12 pt font. Poems should be stapled together and submitted “blind,” with identifying information appearing only on the entry form. Winning poems and honorable mentions may be made available online for a limited time on the VABC website, pending permission of the author.

Deadline: Submissions must be postmarked by July 1, 2009.

Notification: Winners will be announced in September 2009.

Judges: Poets and artists of the Virginia Arts of the Book Center. Selections will be made on literary merit, engagement of theme, and visual interest as a broadside. Judges are poets whose backgrounds are in publishing and book arts. Each has editorial experience with nationally recognized journals, anthologies, and/or prize committees, including the Virginia Quarterly Review, Best New Poets, Little Big Form, and recent VABC Companion Poems, Belle Letters, and Taste ‘Test contests.

Filed under: Announcements on April 29th, 2009