The judging for VCWC’s 2007 Poetry Contest is now completed, and the winners have been determined.

This year, 65 poets entered between one and three poems each in either the Published Poets or the Unpublished Poets category. All entries were judged anonymously. Jackson Wheeler, the founder of the Ventura Poetry Festival, served as our final judge.

Here is a listing of the winning poems and their authors:
Unpublished Poets: 1st place, "8th Birthday," by Melissa Grossman; 2nd place, "Joy in the Morning," by Danielle Brown; 3rd place, "Battles," by Paul Westefer. Honorable Mention: “Carelessness” by Melissa Grossman; "Spring Rain," by Danielle Brown; "Silence Is Golden," by Helen Stockdale.

Published Poets: 1st place: "Tanka," by Cathryn Andresen; 2nd place, "Some Reasons I Won't Loan You $500," by Michael Faran; 3rd place: "Rick Sings," by Phil Taggart. Honorable Mention: "Perfect Lady," by Risky Betts; "Hansel Comforts Gretel," by Doris Vernon; "to the girl wearing a rain-soaked beret," by Michael Faran; "Labor Day at Lake Chautauqua," by Mary H. Shaffer.

The winners will receive certificates and cash awards. The first place poet in each category receives $75.00, second place receives $50.00 and third place, $25.00. Also, this year Doug Crosse, publisher of In the Spotlight magazine, has generously offered to match all cash awards given to our winning poets. In addition, Mr. Crosse plans to publish the winning poems in the “Poets Corner” of his magazine. In the Spotlight is the magazine for The Alliance for the Arts at the Thousand Oaks Civic Center, and has a distribution of 30,000 magazines per quarter.

Congratulations to all our poets. They have all been invited to read their winning poems at the beginning of the VCWC meeting at Borders at 7:00 P.M. on April 10th. Please come, support our poets, and enjoy an evening devoted to poetry.