This year’s National Poetry Month was filled with many events at RWC, some of them new to the lineup. The Student Life office brought New York Performance poet Liza Jessie Peterson to campus. Peterson was selected and introduced to the audience by RWC students Liza Densford and Angelea Monro.
Outside vendors co-sponsored the poetry contest by providing prizes. These sponsors include F&W Publications and Barnes & Noble Kenwood. The UC Bookstore at RWC also provided a gift.
The poetry contest included a separate category for high school students. Both RWC students and faculty judged this portion of the contest.
Students from Rhonda Pettit’s Women in Literature class created poetry exhibits for the cases in Muntz Hall this year for the first time.
This was also the first year a Poetry Coffeehouse was featured, which offered an open mike for RWC poets and musicians (including faculty, students, and staff), held in the RWC Writing Center.
A sell-out crowd enjoyed the performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival in Muntz Auditorium, funded by the Dean’s Office. The awards for the poetry contest were given at this event. The winners are as follows:
College Contest
Judges: Stan Sulkes, Diana Becket, Rita Kumar
There were 31 student entries, and nine faculty and staff, with a total of more than 50 poems.
Student Winners
1st–Brad Wedig for “Present after 9-11”
2nd–Michelle Bruno for “Dear Aunt Grace”
3rd–Liesbeth Overmeire for “Changing Colors”
Student Honorable Mention
Jacqueline Haun
Marlinda Huntley
Andrea Lentz
Susanne Haddix
Kevin Coyne
Kristine Atwell
Faculty Winners
1st–Michael Roos for “The Tao of Love”
2nd–Jim Knippling for “Sometimes RWC”
3rd–Juan O. Valencia for “Four Moments”
Faculty Honorable Mention
Evelyn Brod
Anthony Malone
Frank Dill
Terri Maue
John Kraimer
Sharon Disher
High School Contest
In the high school contest, nine high schools were represented, with a total of 61 students and 109 poems.
There were two categories of judging: RWC Faculty (Maria Damen, Sue Sipple, Rhonda Pettit) and RWC Students (Derek Shrout, Noah Waspe, Jana Shipper)
Faculty Judging Winners
1st–Steven Richardson of Walnut Hills for “My window cries tonight”
2nd–Christina Ransick of Colerain for “October’s Finest”
3rd–Elizabeth Phelps of Colerain for “Yellow”
Honorable Mention
Krystal Wilcox, Withrow
Amanda Staggs, Norwood
Kelli Listerman, Andrea Maas, Jessica Easton, and Michelle Toon, Colerain
Student Judging Winners
1st–Amber Ballard of Norwood for “Dreams Are but a Memory”
2nd–Derrick Chandler of Withrow for “The Insecure and the Nonchalant”
3rd–Mai-Anh Dang of Western Hills for “Efil”
Honorable Mention
Steven Richardson, Walnut Hills
Jennifer Howard and Jennifer Bishop, Norwood
Kelli Listerman, Caleb Meloy, and Juhanna Purnell, Colerain.