Poets from the ages of 14 through 18 who live, or attend school, in the Town of Huntington have a chance, if they are well versed, to have their work become well traveled.
The town’s Public Art Advisory Committee is running a “Poetry for the HART” contest, with the winning poems appearing inside HART buses for a year in advertising spaces. Known also as “a Public Art Initiative Teen Poetry Project,” the contest also offers winners recognition at a public reception, an opportunity to participate in poetry reading with adult poet mentors, having the winning poems published in The Long Islander, and a gift certificate from Book Revue.
The contest will be judged by a group of area poets, community youth group leaders and representatives of the Public Art Advisory Committee. According to the committee, judging will be based on “quality and creativity of the writing, age of the poet, and appropriateness of the poem’s content for public display.”
Poems must be in English, between 10 and 30 lines longs, and be accompanied by an entry form. The deadline is February 1. For more information and a copy of the form, click here.
Forms are also available in many public locations, including town hall and the town’s Web site.
“We have mailed out applications to all of the English Language Arts departments in area high schools as well as private schools that would have students of the appropriate age,” said John Coraor, the town’s director of cultural affairs. “Also to a number of different community agencies like Walt Whitman Birthplace . . .the Youth Bureau and its community youth agencies . . .Huntington Arts Council . . .”