“We were thrilled to have nearly twice as many submissions than in our inaugural contest last year.”
A citywide San Antonio poetry competition for high school students is awarding six young poets with monetary prizes in the second annual Aline B. Carter Poetry Contest for Young Poets, co-sponsored by the Maverick Carter House and Gemini Ink Literary Arts Center. Poems focused on the theme, “The Natural World of Texas.”
Winning Best Overall Poem is Jacqueline Halldórsson, a sophomore at Claudia Taylor Johnson High School, for “Only Texas Knows.” The honor comes with a $1,000 prize. Second prize, with a $500 award, goes to Devyn Moore, a senior at the Young Women’s Leadership Academy, for “The Life of a Rock.” Third-prize winner is Thelo Lewis for “Odyssey of the Sonne.” Lewis is a senior at Health Careers High School.
The judges, chosen for their varied approaches to poetry and esteem in the literary community, chose the three top winners from twenty finalists, out of nearly 100 entries. They also selected the best poems in the categories of Free Verse, Form, and Spanish language.
Judges include 2018-2019 San Antonio Poet Laureate Octavio Quintanilla, former English teacher and poet Mobi Warren, and spoken-word artist Anthony “The Poet” Flores.
Winners in the three categories are William Rowden of Brandeis High School for Best Poem in Free Verse, Gina Yu of Health Careers High School for Best Poem in Form, and Ricardo Rodriguez of North East School of the Arts for Best Poem in Spanish. Each award carries a prize of $100.
“We were thrilled to have nearly twice as many submissions than in our inaugural contest last year,” said Marline Carter Lawson, granddaughter of Aline B. Carter, who sponsors the contest with her brother Paul Carter. The competition honors Aline’s championing of young writers through a similar contest in her lifetime and poetry readings at her family home, the historic Maverick Carter House, downtown. Carter served as Poet Laureate of Texas from 1947 to 1949, cofounded Poetry Day in Texas, and continued writing poetry until she died at age eighty in 1972.
Please visit the following links to enjoy some of the poets reading their winning poems:
Jacqueline Halldórsson. Best Overall Poem, “Only Texas Knows”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd2OeLZNzJc&feature=youtu.be
Devyn Moore, 2nd Prize “The Life of a Rock”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmObnLM9YZs
Thelo Lewis, Third Prize, “Odyssey of the Sonne”: https://youtu.be/LRQzw8VJlhw
Gina Yu, Best Poem in Form, “The Unplanned Visit”: https://youtu.be/zrdF63xabDM
A winners’ reception with readings and check presentations was planned in the Maverick Carter House but had to be canceled due to COVID-19. All of the winning poems are available on the Maverick Carter House website maverickcarterhouse.org.
