News and Upcoming Events

Call for Poets for 2nd Annual Village of Great Neck Plaza Poetry Contest postmark deadline is January 31, 2012.
In celebration of Poetry Month, April, 2012, the Village of Great Neck Plaza in association with Long Island Traditions, and Poetry Coordinator, Carolyn Raphael, is hosting the second annual poetry contest. Last year’s contest attracted numerous contestants and beautiful poems from local residents. This year, the contest boundaries have been expanded to include residents of Nassau, Suffolk and Queens Counties. Winners Day reading will be held Sunday, April 22, 2012 at the Great Neck Plaza Village Hall at 2:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Contestants must be 18 years of age or older, and are invited to submit up to three unpublished poems for an entry fee of $15. The poems may be on any subject, in any style, to a maximum of 30 lines per poem. The postmark deadline is January 31, 2012, and the winners will be announced March 22, 2012 on the Great Neck Plaza Website:

Patti Tana, Professor Emerita of English at Nassau Community College (SUNY) and the author of eight books of poems, most recently Any Given Day (Whittier Publications, Inc., 2011), will be this year’s judge. The Walt Whitman Birthplace Association selected her Long Island Poet of the Year 2009. She is the editor of Songs of Seasoned Women and is an associate editor of the Long Island Quarterly. Learn more about Patti Tana at www.pattitana.com and hear her read her poems.

First prize will be $150 and a 20-minute reading at the Great Neck Plaza Village Hall on April 22, 2012. Second prize will be $75 and a 10-minute reading at the Great Neck Plaza Village Hall on April 22. Third prize will be $50 and a 5-minute reading at the Great Neck Plaza Village Hall on April 22. Only one monetary prize per poet. There will be two awards of Honorable Mention. These poets will be invited to read their winning poems at the awards reading at the Great Neck Plaza Village Hall on April 22, 2012. In addition, each of the three winning poems will be posted for one month on 7 secure outdoor village sign posts, on the bulletin board in Great Neck Plaza Village Hall, and in the waiting room of the Great Neck LIRR train station building. Each poem that wins honorable mention will be posted for two weeks on the 7 sign posts, on the village bulletin board in Great Neck Plaza, and in the waiting room of the Great Neck LIRR train station building.

SUBMISSIONS CHECKLIST

1. Poems must be single-spaced and typed. One poem per page. Each poem should have a title.
   
2. Include two copies: one anonymous and one with the poet’s name and address below the poem.
   
3. There should also be a cover sheet listing the poems’ titles, the poet’s name and address, phone number, and e-mail address.
   
4. The poems should be mailed to The Village of Great Neck Plaza, 2 Gussack Plaza, PO Box 440, Great Neck NY 11022-0440, Attn: Poetry Contest.
   
5. The check for $15.00 should be made payable to Long Island Traditions.
6. Enclose a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope (SASE) for results, or watch the Great Neck Plaza website, for announcement of the winners.
   
7. Check to see that you have followed all instructions before you mail your entry.  For questions, contact Carolyn Raphael, poetry coordinator, at craphael6@yahoo.com.

POETRY IN THE PLAZA

Starting Spring, 2011 and being displayed monthly throughout the year, the Village will be brightened by the addition of poetry selections placed inside various sign posts throughout the Plaza, at Village hall and on the bulletin board inside of the ticket building at the LIRR train station.

There will be a new poem presented each month and it will be graphically displayed to attract people to stop and read them while walking our streets. colors and style of graphics will vary with each season. "This program, another cultural arts project presented by the Village, is to promote the arts and bring literature to life for our residents. We hope you read and enjoy them" said Deputy Mayor Rosen. The poems can be viewed at the following locations:

Village Sign Posts