Poems Galore for National Poetry Month and the Annual ACE Poetry Contest

By Riley, ACE Poetry Contest Mascot, assisted by Martha Sessums (for spelling purposes only)

It’s National Poetry Month again. April. Not only the month where we learn about and celebrate poetry, but the month when ACE sponsors a Poetry Contest for participating ACE Learning Centers and their schools.

Arf, it’s me, Riley. The Mascot for the ACE Poetry Contest and all the Alpha Public Schools and their Parent Learning Center. This is my sixth year being Mascot. Pretty cool.

Meet Lucia (Lucy) Rose, my new ACE Poetry Contest Assistant. It’s me, Riley. I’m the one on the right. Arf!

What else is cool? I have an Assistant this year. Her name is Lucy Rose. She’s brand new. Lucy Rose hangs out in my house that I share with John Glover and she likes to grab my ears. Sometimes she hits my nose by accident, but it doesn’t hurt too much. Guess I’ll be writing poems about girl power this month.

All the ACE Learning Center schools will be a part of the contest – the Alpha Public Schools, Oakland International High School and San Francisco International High School. Their contest mascots will be highlighted in upcoming posts. (My assistant Martha hopes one of the mascots will be a cat. She likes cats. I forgive her.)

Our new contest addition is Oxford Day Academy in East Palo Alto, and Thorckleberry is their poetry contest Mascot. His name is a combination of Thor and Huckleberry. Arf, I get it. He’s a youngin’ and kind of looks like me a few years ago. We’ll see how hip his poems are.

Okay, here are the ACE Poetry Contest rules. The same as always, but let’s review them:

–The poetry topic is “learning with technology.”
–Each school and ACE Learning Center will manage and judge its own contest.
–The prizes are gift cards of $75 for first prize, $50 for second, and $25 for third.

Winners can spend the money on anything they want. Treats for me, perhaps? (You know I always suggest that.)

Any type of poetry is accepted – haiku, slam, free verse, limerick, even epic poems. I prefer doggerel.

So, there it is. April is the month for poems. The best month. The month of the Sixth Annual ACE Poetry Contest. All the mascots will be blogging, poems will be shared, Poem in Your Pocket Day is April 26, so check us out all month. And treat yourself to a poem.