Washington Poets Association
Lyn Coffin Wins Baxter(April '06)
PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Christopher J. Jarmick --Contest Co-Chair **IMMEDIATE** The Washington Poets Association congratulates Lyn Coffin for winning the 9th Annual Bart Baxter Contest for Poetry in Performance contest. Jack McCarthy won 2nd place, Judith Skillman won 3rd Place and Michelle Mukai took 4th place honorable mention. More than 85 were in attendance for the contest last Monday April 3rd, 2006 at Richard Hugo House (who co-sponsored the event with the WPA). 8 finalists competed in a series of one on one heats, for 3 performance judges and those in attendance. The fast-paced elimination rounds meant the winners read a total of 3 original poems each. Two members of Youth Speaks gave a special invigorating reading to kick off the event which also featured John Burgess reading a Bart Baxter poem. The evening's M.C. was poet/writer and radio broadcaster Paul Nelson. "The quality of the poems and performances by all 8 finalists was remarkable," commented WPA Vice President and contest co-chair, Christopher J. Jarmick. "All of the judges confided in me that it was very difficult to choose one poet over another in every single one of the tiered heats." M.C. and contest co-chair Paul Nelson commented: "It was an exhilarating, memorable evening. Lyn Coffin pulled off a bit of an upset over Jack McCarthy." Both poets will be featured with Main Stage readings at the WPA's Burning Word Festival (April 29th at Greenbank Farms on Whidbey Island). Lyn Coffin received $300, Jack McCarthy $125 and Judith Skillman $75 with Michelle Mukai receiving a book store gift certificate. 8 Poets performed their poems in seeded one-on-one poetry bouts which were judged up or down following each reading by three independent judges who had not seen any of the poems prior to their live performance. The Washington Poets Association and Bart Baxter created the contest 9 years ago to recognize and reward performance poets regardless of whether or not they had been published in print. Bart Baxter, a longtime supporter of the Washington Poets Association, placed first in the 1994 MTV PoetryGrand Slam and the 1998 Seattle Grand Slam. In 2001, he was Seattle's first Poet Populist. His books of poetry include A Man, Ostensibly (Egress Studio Press, 2004), The Man with St. Vitus' Dance (Floating Bridge Press, 2000), Sonnets from the Mare Imbrium (Floating Bridge Press, 1999), and others. Washington Poets Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging the creation and appreciation of poetry. Besides the annual poetry contests, the group puts on Burning Word, (April 29, 2006) an annual poetry festival that highlights Washington poets, and publishes a judged anthology of member poetry yearly. |
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