Coastside youth age 12 to 19 are invited to enter the highly successful Teen Poetry Contest, celebrating its 10th year.
As teens "observe the world and respond to it," said contest coordinator and local librarian Shannon Nottestad. "I think they find a poem is the ideal way to do that" because it is short and can deliver the point effectively, she said.
 Half Moon Bay librarian Shannon Nottestad holds a copy of the teen poetry contest anthology while standing by the library's display of broadsides. |
Teens may submit an original poem, two pages maximum, in English or Spanish. Bilingual poems are eligible, though both poem and translation must be the work of the entrant.
The deadline is June 30.
The contest will be judged by El Granada resident and published poet Jimi Baloian; Half Moon Bay resident Doug Stow, co-owner of Paper Crane, and editor/fiction writer Alison Weiss of Half Moon Bay.
The fourth judge is Javier Maya of Half Moon Bay, himself a contest prizewinner.
The contest usually draws more than 100 submissions from public and home-schooled students, and Camp Glenwood juvenile facility residents.
Nottestad credits teacher support and enthusiasm - and the personal connection teens have with poetry.
"I think (the poems) are very much about their personal experiences, and in their own voice," she said. "We'll see some poems that use the traditional forms. And there's always a number that are topical" which this year might mean, about the war in Iraq or Hurricane Katrina.
First-place poems in English and Spanish will receive $75 each. Second-place poems in English and Spanish will receive $50 each.
There are also five $25 Honorable Mentions and a $25 Librarians' Choice award.
With authors' permission, entries will be printed in the annual "Moon Harvest (Cosecha de la Luna)" anthology, which can be checked out at the library.
Rules and entry forms are available at the public or Half Moon Bay High libraries, or the Bookmobile. The public library is located at 620 Correas St.
Concurrent with the contest kickoff is the showing of nine broadsides in the public library's lobby display cases. They were printed by Stow at Paper Crane, and showcase Coastside poets including Baloian, Clifford Hunt, Ken Paul Lozada and Noni Howard.
For information, call 726-2316.
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