Dayton Metro Library Announces Winners In 2021 Poetry Contest

Press release from the Dayton Metro Library:

June 18, 2021

At a virtual awards ceremony last night, the winners of the Dayton Metro Library’s 2021 Poetry Contest were announced. Poets as young as third grade, through adults past retirement age, read their winning poems during the ceremony, hosted by Matt Birdsall and Whitney Bell, editors of Mock Turtle Zine.

More than 140 entries were read and judged by the editorial board of Mock Turtle Zine, an independent, nonprofit collaborative that promotes Dayton area writers and artists in both a print publication and online. First Place winners in each age category will be published in an upcoming issue of Mock Turtle. All the finalists receive Amazon gift cards, and their poems will be posted at DaytonMetroLibrary.org soon.

“I’m always impressed with the depth that we get with these poems,” said Birdsall. “It’s always a challenge to judge, because there are so many really strong entries and so much variety.”

THE 2021 WINNERS ARE:

Older Adult

1. Kathy Austin, House Cleaning
2. Guy Spidel, Sometimes I Dream of A Place Not Like This Place
3. Enoch Fannin, Slugs In The Campfire, Sunday Morning

Adult

1. Danny "Dan Tres Omi" Rodriguez, You the Miracle
2. A.W. Wood, There is a Moth Who Lives in Your Chest
3. Caroline Mundhenk, An Apology Letter to the Grackle

Teen

1. Mia Hayden, 246 days, 15 hours, 17 minutes
2. Selah Griffin, American Capital
3. Olivia Cotton, John 15:12

Grades 5-6

1. Carl Furmanski, Bubble of Hope
2. James Bowling, Little Bo Peep and the Sheep
3. Ingrid Halpin, A Score

Grades 3-4

1. Jonah Dorf, The Morning Game
2. Sylvia Downey, Tree of Life
3. Alexandra Hart, Dogs

Dayton Metro Library has hosted an annual poetry contest for more than 20 years. The contest accepts entries during the month of April - National Poetry Month.

This press release was produced by the Dayton Metro Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.