Poems for Peace: A Local Poetry Prize for Young People.

We are excited to announce the first annual Poems for Peace contest sponsored by the Tuscaloosa Circles of Peace.

To be an eligible contestant, you must:

1. Reside inside Tuscaloosa or within 20 miles of the Tuscaloosa city or county border.
2. Be a young person between the ages of 6 and 13 OR between the ages of 14 and 18.

A $200 prize will be awarded to the winners of each age group category. The first category includes children between 6 and 13; the second category includes children between 14 and 18 or those officially attending high school.

Prizes will be announced and awarded on December 20, 2011. In addition to a cash prize, the winners will receive online publication, gift certificates, and other surprises. A panel of 3-4 local judges who are involved in professional writing will judge the poems and select the winners. This panel will be announced in late November.

The poem can be handwritten or typed. It must be submitted on blank or lined paper with young person's name and address (and email, if appropriate) on the back of the page. You have poetic license to choose the style-- sonnet, free verse, ode, elegy, ballad, nonsense verse, pastoral, and so on-- and length of your poem. However, the topic of your poem should be peace and peacemaking in our individual and communal lives. This can include compassion, tolerance, and peaceful means of conflict resolution. It can also include descriptions of the tragedy and suffering caused by lack of peace- whether in your own family or in the larger world. We ask only that your poem is not disrespectful to particular ethnic, religious, or occupational groups.

All word combinations should be your own creation unless acknowledged by quotation marks. Please leave a comment if you have any questions about the rules for this contest.

All poems should be emailed to mrsalina at me dot com or sent by snail mail to 42 Cherokee Hills, Tuscaloosa AL 35404 c/o Poems for Peace contest.

For inspirations and examples of poems about peace :

• "Prayers After World War" by Carl Sandburg
• "Prayer for Peace" by Francis of Assissi
• "Juan Lopez and John Ward" by Jorge Louis Borges
• "Untitled" by Bertolt Brecht
• "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen
• "Untitled" by William Stafford
• "The End and the Beginning" by Wislawa Syzmborska
• "Wars" by Carl Sandburg

A free film screening.

United Way of West Alabama invites you to a FREE screening of Waiting for “Superman"

in the effort to continue the ongoing conversation about education in West Alabama. Waiting for “Superman” is a 2010 film made for and about kids who are struggling to get a great education and their parents who are doing everything they can to ensure that they get it. You can join the event on Facebook (Waiting for Superman Screening), and tell your friends you're getting involved!

We'll have a local panel of stakeholders on hand to discuss the film afterwards and talk about ways it can stimulate additional discussion about education issues in West Alabama. Also, you'll have the opportunity to take action in the area of education and other social service areas by signing up to be involved in various ways to help improve education and conditions in West Alabama.

For more information or to find out how you or your organization can be involved, contact Rusty Smith at United Way by calling 205.345.6640 or by emailing rusty@uwwa.org.