WMRLS Grand Finale Poetry Slam Results

As a result of last winter's WMRLS Poetry Slam Information Roundtables conducted by librarian Adam Novitt, nine participating libraries conducted very successful Poetry Slams and 22 of the winning library poets came together on Sunday, May 25 at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art to compete in the WMRLS Grand Finale. Including our guest poets, we had over 75 people attend this inspiring event.

All 22 poets competed in the first round; the top ten winners of the first round competed in round two; and the top five winners of the second round competed in round three. The final tally of first, second, and third place winners are as follows:

First Place: Jacob Snow representing the North Adams Public Library
Second Place: Shariff Butler representing the Springfield City Library
Third Place: Seth Brown representing the North Adams Public Library

Thank you to:

• The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art for hosting this wonderful event
• Poet librarian, Vanessa Vargas for serving as our Poetry Slam emcee
• To each and every guest poet for sharing and performing their unique and thought-provoking poetry
• To our enthusiastic audience for encouraging and supporting our guest poets
• And to the following "Poet Slam" libraries: Forbes Library (Northampton), Milne Library (Williamstown), Monterey Library, North Adams Public Library, Springfield City Library, Stockbridge Library Association, West Stockbridge Public Library, Wheeler Memorial Library (Orange), and Worthington Library.

~ Janet Eckert, WMRLS