Sequoyah Student Wins Writing Through Art Competition

CARTERSVILLE, GA -- A Sequoyah High School student has been crowned the winner of the Booth Western Art Museum's 2015-2016 Writing Through Art Literary Competition.

Emily Minnick won first place in the short story division of the contest, which is designed to encourage students to develop writing skills by using works of art from the Booth Museum Permanent Collection as inspiration.

The original contest, inspired and developed by the late Doc Stovall, focused solely on Cowboy Poetry. This unique genre originated from the cattle drives of the late 1800s. In 2005, the contest became a feature of the Museum’s annual Southeastern Cowboy Gathering, with winners reciting their poems before an audience in the tradition of cowboys on the cattle trails.

Currently, the expanded writing contest includes short stories, essays, narrative poetry, as well as cowboy poetry.

“It is exciting,” said Booth Museum Director of Marketing Tom Shinall. “The competition continues to grow and we are seeing some of the best quality pieces ever submitted. The Booth is a true resource to our surrounding communities and this competition provides an outreach opportunity for teachers to get their students involved. Using pieces from the Permanent Collection as inspiration, these students must really refine their thought process and writing skills in order to develop a story."

The competition was open to students in grades 9 through 12 in Georgia public, private and home-based schools.

More than 400 students from Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb, Floyd, Gordon and Oconee counties participated in the competition. Eight finalists were selected in each of the four divisions with cash prizes awarded to the first three places and teachers of finalists, while honorable mention certificates were awarded to the remaining finalists.

Each finalist in the cowboy poetry division had the opportunity to recite his or her's entry during Booth Western Art Museum’s 12th annual Southeastern Cowboy Gathering, which was held March 12.

The Booth Western Art Museum, an Affiliate to the Smithsonian Institution, is a 120,000-square-foot museum in Cartersville, and allows guests to explore the America West through contemporary artwork.

The Museum also houses a Presidential Gallery, Civil War art gallery and Sagebrush Ranch, an interactive children’s gallery. Open since August 2003, Booth Museum is the only museum of its kind in the Southeast and is the second largest art museum in the state of Georgia.

To learn more about Booth Western Art Museum, visit www.boothmuseum.org.

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Photo: From left to right are, Booth Western Art Museum Director of Education Patty Dees, Emily Minnick and Sequoyah High School English teacher Dr. Cathy Murphy. Credit: Booth Western Art Museum