Did You Know?

Two Iowa students have received national recognition for poetry they submitted to the 2013 River of Words® (ROW) Environmental Poetry and Art Contest.  The Iowa students’ poems were selected from thousands of entries and recognized as national finalists. Cori Dahlby-Albright, age 11 from Grinnell was recognized for her poem titled “Spring Thunderstorm”. Tessa Mayer, age 13 from Cambridge was recognized for her poem titled “A Leaf”.

The annual River of Words® Contest is sponsored by St. Mary’s College in California and the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.  River of Words was founded to give new life to the teaching of art and poetry through watershed exploration.  National & International winners and finalists are listed on the River of Words website at: http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/center-for-environmental-literacy/river-of-words.

Entries not chosen as finalists or grand prize winners in the international contest are returned to Iowa, where they are judged in an Iowa statewide River of Words contest. The Iowa Dept of Natural Resources also sponsors a traveling exhibit of chosen poems and artwork. The 2012 contest exhibit will be displayed in the Iowa State Capitol to celebrate Earth Day April 22 through April 25. This exhibit is free and open to the public.

The 2013 Iowa entries have been received by the Iowa Dept of Natural Resources and judging for the annual statewide contest is currently underway.  A list of the 2013 Iowa winners will be posted in May on our website at www.iowadnr.gov/riverofwords. Students interested in participating in the 2014 contest can find more information and entry forms at the same site. Entries for the 2014 contest are due December 1^st, 2013.