BARTOW COUNTY SCHOOLS
REPRESENTED WELL IN BOOTH WESTERN
ART MUSEUM’S WRITING
THROUGH ART LITERARY COMPETITION
Out of more than 500 entries, Bartow County
has 19 students selected as finalists
CARTERSVILLE, GA – Booth
Western Art Museum is proud to announce winners of the 2014 Writing Through Art
Literary Competition. The purpose of the contest is to encourage students to
develop writing skills by using works of art from the Booth’s collection as
inspiration.
The original contest,
inspired and developed by the late Doc Stovall, focused solely on Cowboy
Poetry. This unique genre originated
from the cattle drives of the late 1800s. In 2005, the contest became a feature
of the Museum’s annual Southeastern
Cowboy Gathering, with winners reciting their poems before an audience in
the tradition of cowboys on the cattle trails. Currently, the expanded writing contest
includes short stories, essays, narrative poetry, as well as cowboy poetry.
Bartow County Schools’
language arts teachers Dr. Kathleen McKenzie, Brittany Holland and Joy Leaphart
assisted Booth Museum education staff by selecting works of art, writing lesson
plans, and implementing the contest in their respective classrooms. The
competition was open to students, grades 9 – 12, in Georgia public and private
schools, as well as students, grades 9 – 12, who are home-schooled. More than 500
students from Bartow, Gordon and Cherokee counties participated in the
competition.
Eight finalists were
selected in each of the four divisions with cash prizes awarded to the first
three places and teachers of finalists, while honorable mention certificates
were awarded to the remaining finalists.
Each finalist in the cowboy
poetry division had the opportunity to recite his/her entry during Booth
Western Art Museum’s 11th annual
Southeastern Cowboy Gathering on Saturday, March 8, 2014. Here, the first
place winner was presented the Doc Stovall Cowboy Poetry Award.
Winners of the Writing
through Art Literary Competition from CHS and their
respective categories are as follows:
Canaan Andrews, Honorable
Mention – Short Story
Hannah Guthrie, Honorable
Mention – Short Story
William Brazell, 1st place –
Essay
Samantha Sanders, 1st place
– Narrative Poetry
Veronica Adams, Honorable
Mention – Narrative Poetry
Morgan Free, 1st place –
Cowboy Poetry
Violetta Khirina, 2nd place
– Cowboy Poetry
Lauren McKaig, Honorable
Mention – Cowboy Poetry
Rachel Blankinship,
Honorable Mention, Cowboy Poetry
About
the Booth Western Art Museum
Booth Western Art Museum, an
Affiliate to the Smithsonian Institution, is a 120,000 square foot museum
located in Cartersville, Georgia, where guests are invited to See America’s Story by exploring the
American West through contemporary Western artwork. The Museum also houses a
Presidential Gallery, Civil War art gallery, and Sagebrush Ranch, an
interactive children’s gallery. Open since August 2003, Booth Museum is the
only museum of its kind in the Southeast and is the second largest art museum
in the state of Georgia. To learn more about Booth Western Art Museum, visit www.boothmuseum.org.
L-R) Front row: Dr. Kathleen McKenzie,
Veronica Adams, Morgan Free, Violetta Khirina, Canaan Andrews, and Samantha
Sanders. Back row: William Brazell, Hannah Guthrie, Lauren McKaig, Rachel
Blankinship, and Lisa Wheeler of Booth Western Art Museum. Not pictured: Ms.
Brittney Holland.
