A beloved Sarnia poet is still making her mark years after her death.
The Lawrence House recently announced the winners of the inaugural Carmen Ziolkowski Poetry Prize.
Tanya Standish McIntyre, from rural Quebec, won the first place prize of $500 for her poem "Conceive of a Circle," Toronto native Renée M. Sgroi was awarded $250 for "In Metamorphosis" and the third prize, $100, was awarded to Burlington's Karen Kerekes for “Tree of Life.”
Lambton College Communication Professor Ryan Gibbs said himself, Lois Nantais and Rhonda Melanson were the blind judges for the contest.
"We are three local poets who also knew Carmen. So, we went through the process of reading all the poems and selecting the ones that best captured Carmen's spirit," said Gibbs. "The poems had to be nature based and they had to be hopeful."
Honourable mentions were awarded to Moni Brar from the lands of the Treaty 7 Region and Syilx Okanagan Nation for “Morning Miracles” and to Ottawa's Adrienne Stevenson for “Re-wilding.”
Gibbs said before Carmen passed in 2018 at the age of 94, she came up with the idea to host a poetry contest.
"It just took us a while to really have the platform to do it, and I think with the Lawrence House it seemed to work out well. We wanted to honour Carmen's memory and so did the Ziolkowski family."
Carmen had immigrated to Canada from Naples just after the Second World War and quickly became a part of the local writing community. She was also able to write in two languages, Italian and English.
Gibbs said Carmen was a very vibrant part of The Writers’ Forum.
"She was a person who I think really drew a lot of writers towards her, she had a great love of writing and a great love of life."
Gibbs said they had 36 entries and nearly 100 poems from across the country.
He said what makes good poetry is really the feeling of a connection with the writer.
"And I think that people should always try poetry because it doesn't take a lot of resources to produce -- all you need is a phone or a computer and you can write how you feel, and there's thoughts and an audience out there that you might not even realize."
Gibbs said they're planning on hosting a second poetry contest in 2023.