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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Posted on behalf of the Oregon Poetry Association
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">September 7, 2014<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> Contact: Tiel Aisha Ansari<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <a href="mailto:tielansari@gmail.com">tielansari@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>OPA SPONSORS 2015 OREGON STUDENT POETRY CONTEST</b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">The Oregon Poetry Association (OPA) is sponsoring the seventeenth annual Oregon Student Poetry Contest. Tiel Aisha Ansari of Portland, OR and Steve Jones of Corvallis, OR are the
2015 student contest co-chairs. All Oregon students, kindergarten through 12th grade, enrolled in public, private, parochial and alternative schools, and home schooled, are invited to submit a poem. There is no entry fee. The deadline for entries is February
10, 2015 (postmark).<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Ten unranked winners in each of four age categories receive $10 cash prizes. All forty winning poems will be published in
<i>Cascadia</i>: The Oregon Student Poetry Contest Anthology. Each winner will receive a certificate and a copy of the anthology. The ten winning poems in both the middle and high school divisions are eligible and will be sent to the annual Manningham Trust
Student Contest sponsored by the National Federation of State Poetry Societies (NSFPS). This national competition also awards cash prizes and publication in an anthology.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Oregon students who have won awards in the national contest include South Medford alumnus Kylan Rice, whose poetry can be sampled online at
<a href="http://dailydoseoflit.com/2012/08/21/poem-kylan-rice/">http://dailydoseoflit.com/2012/08/21/poem-kylan-rice/</a> and
<a href="http://www.softblow.org/kylanrice.html">http://www.softblow.org/kylanrice.html</a> among others. Winning poems have also been featured in
<i>Chalkboard</i>, the newsletter of the Oregon Council of Teachers of English; read them at
<a href="http://www.octe.org/uploads/1/7/8/6/17860185/chalkboard.2014.spring.pdf">
http://www.octe.org/uploads/1/7/8/6/17860185/chalkboard.2014.spring.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Writing poetry to enter in the contest is typically a class project organized by teachers in the various types of schools. OPA urges parents and teachers to encourage students to
enter the contest. This is an excellent opportunity both to encourage and to reward creativity in Oregon students.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">A note for teachers, from Steve Jones, Co-Director, Oregon Writing Project Collaborative at George Fox and Co-Chair, Oregon Young Poets 2015 Contest:<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">COMMON CORE SUPPORTS POETRY READING AND WRITING<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Jim Burke in his recently published "Common Core Handbook" maintains that teaching writing well will always demand that teachers and students read widely in all genres, write daily
with peer and teacher feedback with opportunities for student revision--while using mentor texts from all genres, including poetry, short stories and essays. Burke teaches us how Common Core supports this wide reading and writing in all literary genres. National
Writing Project research also tells us that when writers strengthen their writing in any genre, they strengthen their overall skills as writers. Writers are people who write and write and write. So, teachers, encourage your students to write in all literary
genres, confident that they will benefit and become stronger and more effective writers.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Complete guidelines can be found at
<a href="http://oregonpoets.org/contests/student-contest/">http://oregonpoets.org/contests/student-contest/</a> or obtained by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to:<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">OREGON POETRY ASSOCIATION<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">1724 NE Prescott<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Portland OR 97211<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">or requested by email, Tiel Aisha Ansari,
<a href="mailto:tielansari@gmail.com">tielansari@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">OPA is a not-for-profit association whose mission is to:<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">• build and sustain a diverse community of Oregon poets<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">• provide Oregon poets opportunities to exchange ideas and learn from one another<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">• further the appreciation of poetry throughout the state<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">• raise awareness of Oregon poets.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">The Oregon Student Poetry Contest serves to nurture poetic talent among young Oregonians by providing an opportunity for their poems to be widely shared and celebrated.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Tiel Aisha Ansari<br>
Oregon Poetry Association, President and Student Contest Co-Chair.<o:p></o:p></p>
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