Poetry competition theme: Climate Change: Our Impact
Entry forms and guidelines: www.wildlingmuseum.org/news/2022-earth-day-poetry-competition
Submission deadline: Monday, March 21, 2022, 5 p.m.
The Wildling Museum’s 2022 Earth Day poetry competition is open to Santa Barbara County residents of all ages and asks poets to consider the theme Climate Change: Our Impact. Courtesy image.
SOLVANG —The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature is pleased to announce its second annual Earth Day poetry competition with this year’s theme, Climate Change: Our Impact. Santa Barbara County writers of all ages are invited to use poetry to interpret the effects of climate change and our role in a variety of ways, with separate judging categories for youth (ages 17 and younger) and adult writing submissions. The competition is intended to honor Earth Day while highlighting the importance of standing up to protect the planet’s dwindling natural resources and working against the threats of climate change. The deadline to submit work for consideration is Monday, March 21, 2022 at 5 p.m.
Poetry entries will be judged by poets Sojourner Kincaid Rolle, former Santa Barbara Laureate (2015-2017) and Chryss Yost, former Santa Barbara Poet Laureate (2013-2015).
Adult poetry entrants will have the opportunity to win First Prize ($200), Second Prize ($100), and Third Prize (Family Membership to Wildling Museum). Youth poetry entrants will have the opportunity to win First Prize ($100), Second Prize ($50), and Third Prize (Family Membership to the Wildling Museum).
The competition will culminate at the annual Santa Barbara Earth Day celebration hosted by the Community Environmental Council (CEC), taking place on Saturday, April 23, 2022 at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara. The top three winning poems in both the Adult and Youth categories will be selected ahead of Earth Day with the chance for winners to read at the Santa Barbara Earth Day celebration. Top winners will also be featured on the Wildling Museum website in the Spring of 2022.
Competition entrants must reside in Santa Barbara County. No more than three works may be submitted per person. Complete poetry competition guidelines, prize details, and entry forms are available on the Wildling Museum’s website at: www.wildlingmuseum.org/news/2022-earth-day-poetry-competition
Please email info@wildlingmuseum.org or call (805) 686-8315 with any questions.
About Poetry Judge Sojourner Kincaid Rolle
Photo Courtesy Chryss Yost.
Chryss Yost is the co-editor of Gunpowder Press, and served as Santa Barbara Poet Laureate from 2013-2015. Her poems have been included in the most popular poetry textbooks in the country and widely anthologized elsewhere. Poems have appeared in Askew, The Hudson Review, Quarterly West, and Solo as well as other national and international publications.
Photo Courtesy Chryss Yost.
Sojourner Kincaid Rolle, a poet and community activist, served as Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara, California from 2015-2017 and as one of the Poets Laureate-in- Residence at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History during its 2016 Centennial. The museum published Moving Forward, Looking Back; Poems Celebrating Nature as a part of that group residency. In 2017, she was profiled in Holli Harmon’s Portraits of the Central Coast. Generously anthologized, her poems appear in While We Wait (2021), Rare Feathers (2015), and What Breathes Us: Santa Barbara Poets Laureate 2005-2015. Her environmental activism includes work with Agua Pura, Sierra Club, Community Environmental Council, and the City of Santa Barbara Creeks Division.
About the Wildling Museum — The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature, where art and nature meet, offers visitors a unique perspective on the importance of preserving our natural heritage. Through the eyes of artists, and education and field experiences, guests can renew their relationship with the wilderness and understand its fragile nature – hopefully leaving more committed toward ensuring those spaces remain for future generations. Current visiting hours are Friday & Monday, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Saturday & Sunday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. For more information, and to volunteer or join as a member to support this important local arts and nature institution, please visit www.wildlingmuseum.org.
Additional digital resources are available at www.wildlingmuseum.org/virtual-visit, including online galleries from all current exhibitions, links to art activities, videos, and more to help online visitors experience the museum from home.