Tag: poetry

St. Jude Dream House Community Exhibit

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I’m honored to have had four paintings (of my own) in the 2024 St. Jude Dream House Community Art Exhibit in LaGrange, KY. The best part about the show was getting a sneak peek at the Dream House, meeting St. Jude’s amazing Ventara Massey, who facilitated the event, and the other talented artists whose work was included. St. Jude has always been one of my favorite charities, and I enjoyed painting two pieces specifically for this exhibit, to reflect the themes of “hope” and “healing”. This is a major role reversal for me, as I am usually much better at promoting student work than I am at promoting my own work. However, I’ve found that allowing students to see my art journey (both the celebrations and the sting of rejection) helps prepare them for their own journey in life. I hope they see that not trying is a missed opportunity and that finding success is something that you must sometimes work toward your whole life. Anyway, this was such a fun opportunity, for such a noble cause.

PRP Pulse Earns with REALM Award from NCTE

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The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) recently awarded the PRP Pulse a REALM Award with a “First Class” ranking– it’s highest award! The REALM program publicly recognizes excellent literary magazines produced by students with the support of their teachers. REALM is designed to encourage all schools to develop literary magazines that celebrate the art and craft of writing.

National judges complete the first round of judging. Judging is based on a point system. The total points awarded to magazines determine placement in one of the following categories:

REALM First Class (90-100 points)
Superior (82-89 points)
Excellent (75-81 points)
Distinguished (68-74 points)
Honorable Mention (67 or fewer points)

The Pulse features the work of student writers, artists and photographers, and the project is guided by the collaboration of Creative Writing teacher Judy Scott-Berger and Visual Art teacher Denise Webb.

Results are announced in January and posted on the NCTE website. Schools receive a certificate denoting their award, which is sent to the advisor of the school’s literary magazine. In addition, the names of the student editors, literary advisor, and school appear on the NCTE website.