The winners of the first Gilbert Byron Poetry Contest recently gathered at the Talbot County Free Library in Easton for an awards presentation. The winners were selected from more than 90 entries from Talbot County 6th, 7th and 8th grade middle school students.
Photo: Pictured front row, L to R, are winners of the first Gilbert Byron Poetry Contest: Morgan Kimminau, 8th grader at Saints Peter and Paul (SSPP) – Honorable Mention; Gracie Mazzeo, 7th grader at SSPP – Honorable Mention; Anna Sanford, 8th grader at SSPP – Third Place; Alyssa Rayner, 6th grader at Chesapeake Christian School-Honorable Mention; Hannah Hock, 6th Grader at Chesapeake Christian School – Second Place; and Banchi Short, 6th Grader at Chesapeake Christian School – Third Place. Back row, pictured L to R, are Kelley Malone, Gilbert Byron Society member; Eugene Casey, 7th Grader at SSPP – Second Place; Nathan Lovell, 8th Grader at SSPP – First Place; SSPP Teacher Susan Galanek; Connor Herron, 7th Grader at Chesapeake Christian School – Honorable Mention; Katie Bryan, 6th Grader at Chesapeake Christian School – Honorable Mention; SSPP Teacher Karen McLaughlin; Erika Mae Brady, 6th Grader at Chesapeake Christian School – First Place. Absent from the photo were Lamont Evans, Jr., 7th Grader at Chesapeake Christian School – First Place; Colt Easterling, 7th Grader at SSPP – Third Place; Ethan Lister, 8th Grader at Chesapeake Christian School – Second Place; and Chase Magennis, 8th Grader at Chesapeake Christian School – Honorable Mention.
Gilbert Byron was a local author and poet. The poems celebrated the themes of Byron’s writing, including caring for the environment and celebrating the watermen’s lives (what he called the cowboys of Maryland).
In addition to their cash awards and honorable mentions, each winner was presented a certificate and a small cluster of the Lord’s oyster shells in honor of Byron’s nationally-acclaimed novel, “The Lord’s Oysters,” which preserves life on Maryland’s Easter Shore during the early years of the Twentieth Century. Jack Baker of the Gilbert Byron Society, which sponsored the Poetry Contest, stated, “May these ‘Lord’s Oysters’ capture those special times and places that remain in our thoughts and memories of the great Chesapeake and Delaware Bays.”
For information about Gilbert Byron and The Gilbert Byron Society, visit gilbertbyron.org.
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