WWU's Jane Wong helps judge annual Sue Boynton Poetry Contest

A total of 224 Whatcom County residents participated in the 13th annual Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest, and 25 winners have been chosen.

Three of the winners have ties to Western Washington University; Fairhaven faculty member Marie Eaton and student Alandra Barker are two of the 10 Walk Award winners, and emeritus professor Roger William Gilman is one of the 15 Merit Award winners.

Jane Wong, a faculty member at Western, was one of the two judges, along with Richard Widerkehr.

The public is invited to honor the winners and to hear the poets read their entries at the contest’s awards ceremony, 7 p.m. Thursday, May 17, at Bellingham Cruise Terminal, 355 Harris Ave. The event, and parking, are free. Bellingham poet Kevin Murphy will emcee, and the judges will present award certificates.

The 10 Walk Award winners are six adults - WWU's Marie Eaton, Felicia Clemmons, Alandra Barker, Donald Antenen, Tanner Abernathy, and Nancy Canyon - and four students, Madeleine Joyce Patterson, Mason Cash, Izetria Grace-Lind, and Emma McCoy.

The 15 Merit Award winners are eight adults - KJ Vande Bossche, Elizabeth Vignali, Bonnita Lynne, for Fairhaven College Dean Roger William Gilman, Leslie Wharton, Nora Whitley Abelite, Stephen Palmer, and Barbara L. Weed - and seven students, Meagan Gillikin, Jackie Lomas, Jacob Murphy, Ellie Osterloh, Grace Moore, Allie Haugen, and Emma Thario.

A chapbook of poems from this year’s contest will be available for purchase, and all poems entered in this year’s contest will be on display at the ceremony.

Copies of each poem- on placards designed by Angela Boyle, Megan Carroll, Christian Anne Smith, and Kim Wulfestieg - will be displayed for a year inside Whatcom Transportation Authority buses circulating throughout the county.

Also, Walk Award winners will be displayed for a year on plaques on the Poetry Walk in front of Bellingham Library—one of a few permanent poetry installations in the United States.

Visit http://boyntonpoetrycontest.wordpress.com/ for more information.