Congratulations to our Sonnet Contest Winners!

I know it’s usual to proclaim how great all the entries are for any given contest, but it really is true for our sonnet contest. We received some outstanding contributions–all the more outstanding because the sonnet form can be a tricky one. Thanks to everyone who took the time to write a sonnet and send it in! We’re musing over someday publishing all the poetry and short story entries we’ve received over the years because there have been so many good ones.

But it’s also usual in each contest to announce an actual winner and runner up. We’ve forced ourselves to choose. Congratulations, ladies, for rising to the top of the pack!

Our winner, Elizabeth, age 19, will receive a $25 amazon gift certificate for her entry here:

I opened up a book to read and found

Myself transported to another land.

The words spun pictures in my mind, and bound

Me fast, a captive longer than I’d planned.

The time sped by. I didn’t care. I longed

To reach the end but not too soon. I knew

It could not last. To never end seemed wrong

So finally the book itself was through.

But now I find the tale lives on inside

My head. The words have seeped into my soul.

Protagonist of myriad books, I’ve died

And lived and learned that I can’t quite control

How when I open up a book, I find

The characters alive in my own mind.

–“I opened up a book to read and found myself”

 

Our runner up, Ria, a 9th grader, will receive copies of Janie’s Shakespearean historical fiction (The Playmaker and The True Prince) for her entry here:

If only I could use a magic wand

I’d take us to a place where no one knows

Where seagulls rest before they flee the ground

No interruptions, no one watching close.

We’d watch the clouds, white ripples rushing past

And stopping only to wave us goodbye

The waterfall, whose ruthless innocent blast

Would drag and separate those who kick and cry

The time’s like killers, emotionless and fast

Reality sets in, we face our fate

Like sad films, revive, re-live our past

The orange sun sets, warning us we’re late

We share our last smile, before emotions start

And down the waterfall we go, we part.

 

Congratulations, again, ladies! Thanks, again, to everyone who entered. You surpassed our expectations!