Mar. 16, 2007 -- The University of Virginia Art Museum will recognize the winners of this year's Writer's Eye competition in a ceremony on Sunday, Mar. 18.

The ceremony, which was postponed in Feburary, will be held at  2 p.m. in the U.Va. Bookstore. A reception will follow in Newcomb Hall. Visitors may park in the Newcomb Hall/Bookstore garage on Emmet Street.

This annual program, presented by the docents of the museum, invites youth in grades 3-12, university students and adults to submit original prose and poetry inspired by selected works on view.
 
The docents gave Writer's Eye 2006 tours to more than 2,000 students, and 1,256 entries - the largest number ever - were received. Among the artworks selected for the competition were works in a range of media from the special exhibition "Complicit! Contemporary American Art and Mass Culture," curated by Johanna Drucker, Robertson Professor of Media Studies at U.Va.

Writer's Eye entries are judged blind (entries are given numbers and no information regarding the author, school or teacher is available to the judges), prizes are awarded, and an anthology with the first-, second- and third-place winners is published. Winners receive prizes that include cash awards, museum memberships and gift certificates to area businesses.
 
The judges for the high school and University/adult categories were Matthew F. Jones (prose) and Lisa Spaar (poetry). Jones is the author of the novels "Deepwater," "The Elements of Hitting," "A Single Shot," "Blind Pursuit," "The Cooter Farm" and "Boot Tracks," each critically acclaimed. His screenplay adaptation of his novel, "A Single Shot," is currently in production. Spaar, associate professor of English, is the former director of the graduate program in creative writing at U.Va. Her books of poetry include "Blue Venus: Poems," "Acquainted With the Night: Insomnia Poems" and "Glass Town."
 
Docents Gay Frix and Ronny Waters served as co-chairs of this year's program. They were assisted by docents Leonarda Brunst, Janis Chevalier, Carolyn Fletcher, Audrey Gottlieb, Melinda Hope, Rosemary Koch, Ellen MacColl, Beverly May, Betty Natoli, Virginia Ritchie, Lynn Siemon and many University student docents.
 
The following are this year's winners:

Elementary - (Grades 3 - 5 )

POETRY PRIZES

1st:    Charlie Warrick, Stone Robinson School
2nd:   Ashley Fox, Village School
3rd :   Hope Atkins, Village School
3rd:    Emily Kinglsey, Virginia L. Murray School
HM:   Alexander Koch, Broadus Wood School
Sophie Jule Schectman, Free Union Country School
Erin Smith, Village School

PROSE PRIZES

1st :  Della Ruza Jareb, Stone Robinson School
2nd:  Carter Williams, Virginia L. Murray School
3rd:   Snowden Kindler, Stone Robinson School
HM:   Emma Leeds Armstrong, Village School
Marlena Hamilton, Stone Robinson School
Olivia Lewis, Peabody School
Peter Rylander, Burnley-Moran School

Middle School - (Grades 6-8)

POETRY PRIZES

1st :  Sasha Dickey, Buford School
2nd: Olivia Allen, Buford School
3rd:  Alexandra Dudley, St. Anne's-Belfield School
HM: Luna Adler, Buford School
Sonya Hayden, Tandem Friends School

PROSE PRIZES

1st :  Marty Harris, Grymes Memorial School
2nd:  Gregory Denton, St. Luke's Lutheran School
3rd:  Brodde Lamb, Buford School
HM:  Jesse Getchell, Grymes Memorial School
Win Jordan, Grymes Memorial School
Ava Lonergan, Grymes Memorial School
Nicky Pham, William Wetsel School

High School - (Grades 9 - 12)

POETRY PRIZES

1st:  Elizabeth Campbell, Charlottesville High School
2nd: Kathryn McKenzie, Charlottesville High School
3rd : Claire Hunter , St. Anne's-Belfield School
HM:  Lauren Colomb, Western Albemarle High School
Kelly Murphy, Charlottesville High School

PROSE PRIZES

1st : Julia Casey, Charlottesville High School
2nd: Grace McGinnis, Charlottesville High School
3rd : Audrey Crider, Charlottesville High School
HM: Samantha Gray, Albemarle High School
Annie Gunter, Albemarle High School
Tyler Teisberg, Charlottesville High School
Alexandra Tucker, Charlottesville High School

University/Adult

POETRY PRIZES

1st :  Willie Lin , University of Virginia student
2nd :  Kathleen L. Whitten, Adult
3rd:  Daniel O'Neill, Adult
HM:  Catherine Glover,  Adult
James Nohrnberg, University of Virginia student

PROSE PRIZES

1st :  Beth Bailey, University of Virginia student
2nd:  Linda Hogan, Adult
3rd:  Kim Mayo, Adult
HM:  Alison Visokay, Adult