April 7, 1997 1997 Student Winners of River of Words Poetry and Art Contest Winners To Be Honored at the Library of Congress May 3

Contact: Craig D'Ooge (202) 707-9189

On May 3, the Center for the Book, in cooperation with the International Rivers Network, will host the 1997 student winners of the River of Words national environmental poetry and art contest for young people in grades K-12. The winning works of art will be on display in the foyer of the Library's Mumford Room on the sixth floor of the James Madison Memorial Building beginning at 10 a.m. At 3 p.m. in the Mumford Room, U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass will moderate a poetry reading by the winning students. The program is open to the public.

Thousands of American schoolchildren participated in the contest, which invited them to explore and reflect on their own neighborhoods and communities through a variety of classroom and field activities. In announcing the eight 1997 student winners during a program at the San Francisco Public Library on April 8, Poet Laureate Hass said, "Imagination runs through the place where we live like water. We need both things -- a living knowledge of the land and a live imagination of it and our place in it -- if we are going to preserve it.

The 1997 poetry winners are: Rachel Mueller (grade 2), Buena Vista, Colo.; Gerrell Scribner (grade 4), Covelo, Calif.; Ben Santos (grade 8), Columbia Mo.; and Alexandra Rich (grade 11), Salt Lake City, Utah. The 1997 art contest winners are: Emily Forbes (kindergarten), Kennesaw, Ga.; Lauren Hendrick (grade 3), Aurora, Colo.; Kathy Codega (grade 7), Barrington, R.I.; and Adulfo Juan (grade 12), Fort Myers, Fla.

A workshop for K-12 educators, inspired by the River of Words contest, will be sponsored at the Library of Congress on May 1-3 by the Center for the Book, the International Rivers Network, and the Global Rivers Education Network.

The May 3 program is part of the Rivers of America project being developed by the Center for the Book in cooperation with other Library of Congress offices and organizations outside the Library. Aimed primarily at the general public, teachers, and students, the project will use the cultural heritage of America's rivers to stimulate interest in reading, literacy, history, and the environment.

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PR 97-069
1997-04-07
ISSN 0731-3527