Nikki Giovanni Announces 2018 Steger Poetry Prize Winners

One of the world’s oldest art forms was recently celebrated in one of the most technologically advanced performance spaces, when the ceremony honoring Steger Poetry Prize winners was, for the first time, held in the Cube at the Moss Arts Center.

Now in its 13th year, Virginia Tech’s annual poetry event is held every April, during National Poetry Month. Nikki Giovanni, University Distinguished Professor of English, established the poetry competition for undergraduates and named it for its first benefactor, Charles W. Steger, the university’s president at the time.

Although the event was rechristened the Nikki Giovanni Celebration of Poetry last year, Giovanni has insisted that the Steger Poetry Prize retain its original name, noting, “We had a president who had the vision to say poetry at Virginia Tech is one of the most important things.”

This year’s competition, which garnered more than a hundred entries, was so competitive that the judges chose 12 student finalists instead of their usual 10. The finalists represent five colleges across the university, in majors ranging from creative writing to industrial design to animal and poultry sciences.

In her introductory remarks, Giovanni reflected on the inaugural year of the competition.

“Our first winner of the poetry prize was a physics major, a brilliant young man who studied light and how long it takes light to fall into darkness,” Giovanni said. “We’re all beginning to wonder, how long does it take for light to fall into darkness? We have to learn that. How long does it take hatred to fall into love? How long does it take stupidity to fall into intelligence? These are all questions we have to ask.”

A range of profound questions were explored throughout the ceremony, as finalists read their entries, alternating with poems chosen and read by Department of English faculty members and invited guests.

This year, Jillian Mouton of Loudoun County, Virginia — a senior triple majoring in literature and language, creative writing, and professional and technical writing in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences — won the competition for her poem, “Bayeux.”

As first-place winner, Mouton received $1,100, the largest monetary award of any university-sponsored poetry competition in the Western Hemisphere. Mouton also accepted a piece of handcrafted art by local jeweler Faith Capone. Known as “the Steger,” the artwork — a sterling-silver cylinder — has an inset magnifying glass to symbolize the power of poetry to enlarge our understanding of the world.

The second-place, $500 prize was awarded to Katherine Louis of Norfolk, Virginia, for her poem, “Clouds in the Sky.” Louis is a junior majoring in Spanish in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.

Shalini Rana of Vienna, Virginia, a senior double majoring in creative writing and professional and technical writing in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, won the third-place, $300 prize for her poem, “Scenes/Funeral Day.”

In addition to the winners, nine students received honorable mentions:

• Allison Lee Craft of Blacksburg, Virginia, a junior majoring in theatre arts/cinema in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, for “Rural Retreat, Virginia”;
• Mara DePena of Virginia Beach, Virginia, a senior majoring in animal and poultry sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, for “America’s Not Beautiful”;
• AnnRea Fowler of Suffolk, Virginia, a junior majoring in professional and technical writing and creative writing in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, for “Food for Thought”;
• H. H. Hsueh of Taipei, Taiwan, a senior majoring in industrial design in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, for “Morphoses”;
• Fintan Kelly of Purcellville, Virginia, a senior majoring in creative writing in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, for “La Pietà in Reverse: Birth Day”;
• Jessica Mardian of Lynchburg, Virginia, a first-year student majoring in creative writing in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, for “The Origin of Our Small Disasters”;
• Alison Miller of Arlington, Virginia, a junior triple majoring in creative writing, literature and language, and professional and technical writing in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, for “Girls With Secrets”;
• Taylor Thackaberry of Purcellville, Virginia, a sophomore majoring in computer science in the College of Engineering, for “Along the Edge of Waimea Canyon, 2018”; and
• Nima Trivedi of Roanoke, Virginia, a junior majoring in biology and clinical neuroscience in the College of Science, for “Saris.”

The competition is administered by Giovanni; co-directed by Aileen Murphy, a senior instructor, and Joe Scallorns, an advanced instructor, both in the Department of English; and organized and judged by the Steger Committee.

In addition to Giovanni, Murphy, and Scallorns, this year’s committee members include Sharon Johnson, an associate professor of French and francophone studies in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures; Christine Labuski, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology; and Gena Chandler-Smith, an associate professor; Virginia Fowler, a professor; Thomas Gardner, an Alumni Distinguished Professor; Ennis McCrery, an adjunct instructor; Lucinda Roy, an Alumni Distinguished Professor; and Gyorgyi Voros, a senior instructor, all in the Department of English.

Support for the award competition and the second annual Nikki Giovanni Celebration of Poetry was provided by the Donna and Dennis Treacy Endowment for the Arts, Charles and Janet Steger, the Department of English, A.M. Squires Trust, and Union Bank.

Written by Paula Byron and photographed by Richard Allnutt