LIHUE — The members of the Lihue Public Library-sponsored Live Poets’ Society announce that Sophia Riley is the winner of the society’s first student poem contest.
An 11th-grade student at Island School, Riley submitted her winning entry to the “From A Bird’s Eye” contest — “Ever Ending and Never Beginning” — following all contest guidelines.
Riley was invited to attend the December meeting of the LPS to read her poem adjudicated by member Joy Acey Frelinger and librarian Sierra Hampton-Eng.
Her award was a certificate from the National Tropical Botanical Garden for a family tour of the McBryde Garden. She also won a publication prize courtesy of The Garden Island and Editor-In-Chief Bill Buley for her winning poem, along with her photo and biography.
Additionally, Riley is invited to read her winning poem, which centers on the viewpoint of a shearwater, at a public reading of the LPS scheduled this month, with exact details to be announced soon.
The contest was launched to stimulate the reading and writing of poems and development of critical-thinking skills in students from fifth through 12th grades.
Information was supplied to schools and through the media as well as through the public library system.
A secondary purpose of the subject matter was to promote the study and appreciation of Kauai birds in their natural habitats, whether native or introduced. In line with this, teachers were offered the built-in lesson plan of the contest guidelines and/or a visit from a volunteer naturalist, a representative of the Kilauea Point Natural History Association.
LPS members are now planning a new contest for “kids from 1 to 99,” on the subject of all facets of “Green.” The complete guidelines will soon be made available, looking toward April as the Kauai celebration of April as National Poetry Month.
The Kauai LPS is a regular first-Monday gathering of poets and poetry lovers who meet to enjoy poetry and the process of writing poems together under the guidance of Kauai poet and author, Dawn Fraser Kawahara, dba TropicBird Press, and in partnership with the Lihue Public Library.
