Twelve winners and eight honorable mentions were awarded Wednesday night at the St. Michaels branch of the Talbot County Free Library in the Friends of the Library’s 21st annual poetry contest.  Three winners and two honorable mentions were announced in each of four categories: Students in Grades 3 – 5, Students in Grades 6 – 8, Students in Grades 9 – 12, and Adults.  Over 160 entries were received for the contest this year.  From this large field, prize winners were selected by a panel of three judges: Lisa Rank, Jacques Baker, and Elizabeth Spurry.  Sharon Harrington of the Friends and Sabine Simonson, the library’s Outreach Services and Volunteer Coordinator, jointly emceed the ceremony.

A booklet listing the prize winners has been published by the Friends and is available at all branches of the library.  The names of prize winners can also be found at the library’s website: www.tcf.org.  The Friends of the Library’s Poetry Contest was partially funded by the Talbot County Arts Council with funds provided by the Talbot County Council and the towns of Easton and St. Michaels.