Young Coastside Poets Encouraged to Enter Contest

The Half Moon Bay Library is hoping to receive more submissions for the 15th Annual Teen Poetry Contest.

“Last year we had 72 poems,” said Half Moon Bay outreach librarian Armando Ramirez. “As of today we have five.”

With 30 days left before the deadline, there’s still time to enter the contest.

Coastside teens ages 12 to 19 can submit an original poem in English or Spanish or both, written in any form. Bilingual poems (English/Spanish) are eligible, if both the poem and its translation are the work of the teen.

The judges are local poets, educators and people in general.

“Each year we have a total of three people judge the poems,” said Ramirez. “They look for originality, character and emotion in the poems they judge.”

Poems entered in the contest will, with the author’s permission, be published in the 2012 edition of Moon Harvest/Cosecha de la Luna. Teens also have the option of having a poem published anonymously. Previous editions of the poetry anthology are available for checkout at the Library.

Cash prizes will be awarded: 1st place English and Spanish, $75 each; 2nd place English and Spanish, $50 each; 5 Honorable Mentions, $25 each. For the fifth year, a Librarian’s Choice prize of $25 will be awarded for a poem selected by Library staff.  In addition, teens entering the contest will receive a free copy of Moon Harvest/Cosecha de la Luna.

The prizes will be awarded at a poetry reading and awards ceremony on Friday, September 4 at 7 p.m. All teens that enter the contest will be invited to read their work.

Half Moon Bay Patch will also post the winners and their poems on the site after the poetry reading and awards ceremony.

The contest deadline for submissions is June 30. Complete contest rules and entry forms for the 15th Annual Teen Poetry Contest are available at the Library and on the Bookmobile. The Half Moon Bay Library is located at 620 Correas Street.

For more information, or for Library or Bookmobile hours, call 726-2316 x2.

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