[stylist] Awards

[Jacobson, Shawn D]

Jackie

Congratulations! I just read the poem; quite interesting and well done.

Shawn

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jacqueline Williams
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 12:26 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: [stylist] Awards

I am truly a happy camper today, and forgive me if I blow my own horn a bit.

I just received five awards through the mail yesterday from the NFSPS 2012 Annual Contest. It stands for the National Federation of State Poetry Societies.

None of them were a first, second, or third place, which means no money, but there was a 1st, 2nd, one 5th, and two 7th place Honorable Mentions.

I have recently attached two of these to my e-mails to you. Medicine Wheel, which was "Our American Indian Heritage Award,  and "Rocky", which was on the topic of When bad things happen.

I will only burden you with one attachment. Mainly because I thought it was hilarious that it got an award. It was from the League of Minnesota Poets Award, and the category of long free verse. 

In it, I have taken the name of an angle worm. Who asked me about anthropomorphic poems? Not sure this is one, but I was trying also to portray the voice of one dead, a Spoon River. 

The bright spot is that with an honorable mention, I can submit the poem again with the confidence that it is a good one that might be in need of a tweak or two.

In only one of the five were the judge's comments included. In her remarks she stressed the importance of not having even one error in spelling, punctuation, or usage. In her category there were 257 poems, and every one with even one error was automatically discarded because it was so difficult to winnow out even the ones with  perfect form, so that she could concentrate on content, form, etc.

It is doubly difficult when you use a screen reader to accomplish this, as I am sure you all know. But I would encourage you to try.

If anyone wants the information on next year's contest, I will be scanning it for myself, and could make an attachment. The problems, the scanner often makes mistakes in spelling or skipping some things. 

Sorry I missed the phone conference on Sunday. As Lynda has said, personal contact means a great deal.

Jackie