Older Oklahomans Urged to Submit Poetry for Older Americans' Month Poetry Contest

OKLAHOMA CAPITOL -- Older Oklahomans are invited to submit original poetry for competition in the “Older Americans’ Month Poetry Contest” – an annual contest held in conjunction with Oklahoma’s celebration of the month of May as “Older Americans’ Month.”
The Oklahoma Conference on Aging will be held May 3 – 5, 2005, at the Reed Center, 5800 Will Rogers Road in Midwest City. The contest, sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services’ Aging Services Division and 11 Area Agencies on Aging, is open to Oklahomans age 60 and older.

ASD Director Roy Keen said poets may each submit only one poem about any topic they wish.

“We usually receive more than 300 entries and they cover a broad range of topics from humorous accounts of past experiences to very inspiring messages from people with great insight on life and living,” Keen said.

• Entries must be original poems written by the person making the submission.
• Only one entry per person is allowed.
• The entry may have been written anytime during the poet’s lifetime and can be of any length, meter or type of verse.

Each poem is judged on content and all entries must be received by Dec. 31, 2004. All appropriate entries will be published in a book that will be distributed during the Oklahoma Conference on Aging. No exceptions to the deadline will be made.

The entry should be submitted on paper (tapes will not be accepted) and should include:

• Title of the poem
• Poet’s name, age (must be age 60 or more), gender (male/female)
  Poet’s address including zip code
• Telephone number, including area code
  
  

Poems should be mailed to: Sheila Garner, OKDHS’ Aging Services Division, 2401 NW 23, Suite 40, Oklahoma City, OK 73107
Contest winners will be notified by no later than March 1, 2005. Winners are invited to attend the conference and will be recognized during a ceremony held on Senior Day on May 4, 2005. Authors of the winning poems will be invited to read their poetry during an awards ceremony.

For more information, please call Sheila Garner at (405) 522-6239.

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