Joliet Junior College and Joliet Public Library Team Up for Poetry Contest – Shaw Local

Joliet Junior College and the Joliet Public Library are teaming up to celebrate National Poetry Month in April with a poetry contest for all ages.

Submissions can be audio or text, and the contest will be divided into age categories: kids (up to grade 5), teens (grades 6-12), and adults (18+).

All entries will be part of a collection on the Joliet Public Library’s BiblioBoard, an online resource that allows libraries to curate unique local content, according to a news release. A submission link will be on the Joliet Public Library website and social media on April 1.

Submissions will be published by the end of April.

“We love to engage our students, faculty, and staff, as well as the public, in fun ways to interact with words, both in reading and writing,” said JJC Librarian and Associate Professor Michelle Roubal in a statement. “Competitions and prizes are just one way to encourage participation and honor the great work of our community of writers.”

The Joliet Public Library will host a poetry reading and writing workshop with Kristin LaTour, JJC professor and published poet, at 7 p.m. on April 13 at the Black Road Branch. The program will include writing prompts, poetry tips and a Q&A session.

LaTour, Roubal and two library staff members will judge the competition.

“It’s important to use all the tools a poet has to connect readers to the senses,” LaTour said. “If a poem is going to come out and tell me what it’s about, it won’t strike me as much as a poem that uses metaphors, imagery and sound to convey its meaning.”

Each winner of the Poetry Month contest will receive a gift card.