
Our 2021 Awards Ceremony was a Zoom Awards! (no photo)

2019 Winners of the 48th Annual Collin County Poetry Contest

Mockingbird Members: Domingo Rodriguez, Sylvia Medel, Jimmye Inez Sessions, Ann Marie Newman, John Alexander, Alice Parker
April 2019 (Poetry Month) Display at McKinney’s Hall Library. Thanks to Ann Marie Newman for the use of her imaginative Owls!
2018 Awards Ceremony for Winners of the Collin County Poetry Contest – April 29, 2018 at the Collin College Central Park Campus in McKinney
Ready to work! Mockingbird Members: (L-R) Susan Mardele, Alice Parker, Jiaan Powers
A Collin College welcome from Toni McMillen and Dr. Melinda McBee
2018 Winners of the Collin County Poetry Contest
2018 Winners in the Mockingbird Member Category: (R-L) Edmund Burke (1st place), Susan Mardele (HM), Leslie Cappiello (3rd), and Sylvia Medel (2nd)
Poets with their families, friends, and teachers who support them
(L-R) Willie Sims, Ann Marie Newman, and David Knape
After the Awards Ceremony – Mockingbird Members (L-R) Irene Robertson, Alice Parker, Beth Ayers, Ann Marie Newman, Edmund Burke, Willie Sims, Tom Martin, Sylvia Medel
Our 2018 Poetry Month Display (featuring raindrops and spring) in the McKinney Public Library
Anthology of winning poems available for purchase while supplies last
Collin County Annual Poetry Contest April 2017
Collin County Annual Poetry Contest April 17, 2016

2016 Collin County Poetry Contest Student Winners

A Full Auditorium!

Applause for Teachers

The Last to Leave – Mockingbird Members: Irene Robertson, Sylvia Medel, and Beth Ayers
Jeanette Jordan Hibbs
(1925- 2015)
Collin County Annual Poetry Contest May 3, 2015-
Barnes & Noble Book fair April 18, 2015 –
In celebration of Poetry Month, the Mockingbirds hosted an Open Mic event in conjunction with a Barnes & Noble Book fair. Eighteen local poets shared their poems with a warm and responsive audience. Proceeds from the Book fair will help sponsor the annual Collin County Poetry Contest. Also, this was the perfect time and place to debut our new anthology: Songs of the Mockingbirds (Contact us to purchase a copy.)
In celebration of Poetry Month – 2015, the Mockingbirds sponsored a display in the McKinney Public Library
Mockingbirds share poetry at Pioneer Ridge in McKinney -March 21, 2015
Poetry Society of Texas Summer Conference – July 2014
Beth Ayers, Alice Parker, Irene Robertson, Jimmye Inez Sessions, Inez Grimes
The Poetry Society of Texas Annual Awards Banquet- November 8, 2014
Sylvia Medel, Jimmye Inez Sessions, Irene Robertson, Edmund Burke, Beth Ayers
Sylvia Medel, Beth Ayers, Alice Parker, Irene Robertson, Edmund Burke, Aman Khan
The Mockingbird Poetry Society was well represented at this year’s PST Award’s Banquet. PST President Jimmye Inez Sessions presided as winners were announced for 100 different contests. Mockingbird President Irene Robertson was present to support the Mockingbird winners. Aman Khan sponsored one of the highest awards. Alice Parker and Edmund Burke both won a First Place cash award and publication in the Book of The Year. Second place Mockingbird winners were: Sylvia Medel (2), Edmund Burke, Beth Ayers, and Alice Parker. Third Place winners were: Edmund Burke (2), and Sylvia Medel. Each of these poets, along with Jessica Gonsoulin (not pictured), had poems that placed in the top ten of a contest. In addition, Sylvia Medel placed second and Beth Ayers placed third in the Edwin M. Eakin Memorial Book Publication Award.
The Mockingbird Garage Sale- June 2014
McKinney Public Library Poetry Contest Awards- April 30, 2014
Smriti Natarajan (contest winner) with Scott Yarbrough
(contest judges) and Lisa Kirby (contest judges),
Debbie Bennett (teacher), and Beth Ayers (speaker)
Jessica Vigil (contest winner) with family and Beth Ayers (speaker),
Scott Yarbrough and Lisa Kirby (contest judges)
Mockingbird Barnes & Noble Bookfair and Open Mic- April 27, 2014
2014 Forces Release and Reading- March 19, 2014
Mockingbird Members Beth Ayers, David Knape, Sylvia Medel, and Jessica Gonsoulin (not pictured) attending the Forces Literary Journal release and reading
Collin County Annual Poetry Contest 2014
To Read, To Write
How blessed we are
to be able to read
to write
think
what would life be
without these special gifts
reading expands our minds
and plants new ideas in
fields of thought
one of man’s most precious gifts
is the reading of a book
to write is to explore
to find oneself on the written page
to see the beauty of a thought
expressed for others to absorb
what would we be
without the gifts of
reading and writing
lost souls among the lower creatures
who have not these gifts
can only growl or bark
so I would ask you
to keep stoking the fire
keep reading
keep writing
use your special gift
so that the flame does not go out
for the spark that starts
a learning fire
can warm your world
forever.
~d.knape
Collin County Annual Poetry Contest 2013