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Library staff detail plans for 23rd annual poetry festival; awards set for May 2
Summary
Library staff briefed the advisory committee on the 23rd annual poetry festival, reporting the awards ceremony will be May 2, registration opened Dec. 1, judging is split across five age groups, and winners are being checked for plagiarism and AI-generated content before notification.
Valerie Ramos, a library director, told the Library Advisory Committee that the 23rd annual poetry festival — first held in 2004 — will culminate with an awards ceremony on Saturday, May 2, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the multipurpose room at the Joy Gathering (Joy Downer) Library.
Ramos said registration for the festival opened Dec. 1 and that staff have organized judging into five groups: two groups for younger grades judged by local school librarians and panels for older students and adults judged by university-level readers and library staff. “The award events will be on May 2. It’s a Saturday from 1 to 3PM,” Ramos said.
She added that staff are compiling a winners’ booklet that will include winning poems and sponsor information, and that she is conducting plagiarism and AI-detection checks before contacting winners. “So once that’s confirmed, then I can contact the winners,” Ramos said.
Committee members asked whether all participants receive certificates. Staff confirmed that participants, including nonwinners, are given certificates of participation and that trophies will be awarded to the top three in each relevant category. Members also requested a school-by-school participation breakdown to assess outreach and identify underrepresented schools; Ramos said she already has the numbers and can provide them at the next meeting.
The committee discussed outreach challenges to local schools (competing testing calendars and events such as robotics), and staff noted librarians have been the main contact for distributing information to school campuses. Organizers plan to continue distributing flyers to schools and to publicize the festival through library social channels and partnerships with local media.
The festival’s organizers said photos and feedback items donated by judges will be distributed at the awards event; staff cautioned that some physical giveaways will be distributed “while supplies last.” The committee did not take formal action on the program during the meeting.
