Ardmore Library Poetry Contest Winners Announced

Winners of Ardmore Library's 12th Annual Charlotte Miller Simon Poetry Contest have been announced, and those lucky poets will be honored at a program March 12 for their verse.

The public is invited to the celebration at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 12 at the Lower Merion Township Building, 75 Lancaster Ave., Ardmore.

The families and friends of the winners will be joined by members of the community, including representatives of the Lower Merion Township Board of Commissioners, to acknowledge the talents of the winners from each of the categories: children, teen, and adult.

Nearly 700 poems were submitted for the contest, 696 to be exact.

Nineteen schools were represented by 469 entries in the children's division, while the teen division had 185 entries from 17 schools. Adult poets division submitted 42 entries.

The winners are:

CHILDREN

1. Elijah Nichols, “Eternal” Merion Elementary
2. Tessa Early, “The Night” Chestnutwold Elementary
3. Lila Carter, “The man on the moon” Chestnutwold Elementary
   

Honorable Mention

• Emma Barnes, “The place where thoughts are” The Baldwin School
• Sophia Casale, “The wolf” Bala Cynwyd Middle School
• Adeline Drew, “Flowers” Chestnutwold Elementary

TEEN

1. Manar Albarakati, “What My Mama Said” Harriton High School
   
2. Guanjie Cheng, “Poems” Bala Cynwyd Middle School
   
3. Nile Andah, “The Perfect You” Waldron Mercy Academy
   

Honorable Mention

• Mark Brennan, “The Ladder That Controls Our Lives” Haverford Middle School
• Nemeisha Meekins, “Inferior Love” Harriton High School
• Oron Barash, “To Write a Sonnet” Lower Merion High School

ADULT

1. Michael Morel “Before Meaning”
2. Uddipana Goswami “Fall Colors:Yellow”
3. Barnett Kamen “I Never Had to Put Sugar in My Coffee”

Honorable Mention

• Naomi Sved “Paper or Plastic"
• Brian Mays “2008”

Each year for the last twelve years, the Ardmore Free Library has celebrated the love of poetry fostered by Charlotte Miller Simon through the annual poetry competition in her name. The contest is generously sponsored through an endowment established by her family and with prize money funded by Jonathan and Christina Miller.

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