SCCC Poetry Coffee House Event Awards Scholarships

The seventh annual Poetry Coffee House sponsored by the Seward County Community College humanities division drew a crowd of literature lovers to campus April 28. Winners in the scholarship and open categories read their work, as did SCCC English instructors Bill McGlothing and Janice Northerns.

SCCC students Nate Lee, Ben Knight, and Alyssa Fisher provided music throughout the evening, and guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and hot and iced coffee.

Winners in the scholarship category – area high school juniors and seniors — were Serriana Schuldt of Ulysses, first and honorable mention; Nathan Dowell of Liberal, second; and Taylor Anderson of Sublette, honorable mention.

Winners in the open category — area residents ages 14 to adult — were Josh Juma of Liberal and SCCC student, first and honorable mention; Ed Kenner of Liberal, second; Noemi Rodriguez of Liberal, third and honorable mention; and honorable mention winners Olivia Hamilton of Liberal and SCCC student, Aiyana Moyer of Liberal and SCCC student, and McKenzie Navarrette of Ulysses. Juma also won the award for Best SCCC Student Poem.

Contest winners’ poems will be published in the next edition of Telolith, the college’s award-winning literary and art magazine.

R.S. Gwynn, poet-in-residence and Professor of English at Lamar University of Beaumont, Texas, judged the contest. Entries were judged on originality, quality, skillful use of language and poetic devices, and freedom from grammatical and typographical errors.

Donors who contributed prizes included the SCCC Foundation, which provided scholarship awards of $100 to the first- and second-place winners in the scholarship category, the SCCC English department, Pizza Hut, Spencer Browne’s Coffee House, and the Saints Bookstore.