Love Poems; Contest Winner

Common Good Books: Love Poems; Contest Winner - Shelf Awareness

Kristal Leebrick's poem "New year love" won the $1,000 first prize in "Love Letters: The Second Annual Common Good Books Poetry Contest," which was launched on Valentine's Day, when writers across the U.S. were invited to submit a love poem to the competition sponsored by Garrison Keillor's Common Good Books in St. Paul, Minn. In addition to the winner, the four runners-up--Edwin Romond, Kathleen Novak, Ann Harrington and Chet Corey--each received $250 prizes.

"We knew there are a lot of poetry lovers out there, but even we were overwhelmed to receive over 1,000 entries from across the country," said David Enyeart, the bookshop's event coordinator and assistant manager. "The majority of the entries were from Minnesota--it's only cold outside here, apparently; we're warm on the inside--but almost every state can claim at least one aspiring poet."

Enyeart added that he would "encourage any store to run a contest of their own. Whether you ask for poems, short stories, slogans, or even customer reviews, a contest is a great way to help your customers show off their creativity and enthusiasm."

Yesterday, Common Good Books hosted a celebration of poetry at which the winners were named, having been selected from a list of 25 finalists by judges Keillor, Tom Hennen and Patricia Hampl. In writing about the finalists, Keillor observed: "Some poems were fascinating but we rejected them anyway. Probably we were wrong.... there was a lot to admire everywhere we looked."