Long Island Fair honors its poetry winners

The results of the Long Island Fair’s 2019 Poetry Competition are in and winners have been honored with their ribbons.

East Meadow poet Judy Turek was the superintendent of poetry for the fair, which has hosted a poetry competition each year until 2016 — the same year Turek won a ribbon in the Adult Poetry Category. Turek wanted to make sure they had the competition up and running for 2019, and stepped up to the superintendent position.

The fair organizers received 86 poems on the theme Moon Over Long Island. Turek wrote to those who contributed and said, “I told them poetry was vibrant and alive on [Long Island] and you helped me prove that — thank you!”

“The poetry was so terrific, they had a difficult job judging,” she added. “Unfortunately, with a contest, not everyone can win, but the poems were great!”

In the Free Verse category of the Adult Poetry competition, Tara Lamberti took first place, Mary Shelia Morrissey took second, Tammy Green took third, and honorable mentions went to Cheryl Murphy and George Wallace.

In the Haiku category of the Adult Poetry competition, George Held took first place, Nomi Dayan took second, Nicholas LaPadula took third, and honorable mentions went to Jennifer Zinck and Walter Harris III.

In the Rhyme category of the Adult Poetry competition, Sharon Anderson took first place, Margarette Wahl took second, Adina Lefkowitz took third, and honorable mentions went to Susan O’Byrne and Mark Siegal.

Young Adult Free Verse winner was Aram Ebrahimian, Junior Free Verse winner was Cristian Martinez and Junior Rhyme winner was Veronica Belanger. Young Children winners were JJ Hillen, in first place for Free Verse, Solenne Lefkowitz, in first place for Rhyme, and Chloe Lyga, for first place in Haiku.

—Brian Stieglitz