Newman Award for English Jueju/Writing Chinese Regulated Verse in English
Dear MCLC Literati,
Greetings from the University of Oklahoma! Now in its 8th year, the Newman Prize for English Jueju is again open for submissions. The window will remain open until March 1, 2019. The $500 prize is awarded in four categories: Three within the state of Oklahoma (elementary, middle, and high school) and one category for adult poets (college and adult) submitting poems from any location. For over 22 years, I have taught this form of poetry both within creative writing classes as well as in courses on Chinese literature and poetics in the belief that the best way (if not the only way) to learn about regulated verse is to learn to write it. Please keep in mind that the teaching video and game materials are a part of an evolving project, and one that has been created primarily for the purpose of general public education (elementary-high school teachers) and not for Classical Chinese poetics or phonology scholars. Still I have found this approach to teaching Chinese poetics exceptionally useful on a number of levels and hope that you and your students will find this project equally engaging and potentially enriching. The competition aspect of the project is meant to connect regulated verse culture, the rime table tradition, and the examination system so that poetics can be explored within the nexus of aesthetics, phonology/linguistics, cosmology/poetics and social/ideological forces. Therefore, I would encourage you and/or your students to participate in the competition for its full pedagogical potential, but the materials will remain in place as a teaching resource. College-age and adult poets must submit their poems to newmanpoetryaward@ou.edu by the deadline (March 1) along with the following information: Name, School, and Contact information. All entries are judged blindly and winners are contacted by March 3, 2019.
For winners not in the state, you will receive your prize money and certificate by mail. Your winning poem will be read at the Newman Prize Ceremony from 6-9pm on March 8, 2019 alongside the celebration of this year’s Newman Prize for Chinese Literature winner, Xi Xi! To learn how to write the English Jueju, please visit the website below:
(Full-length) Teaching Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgpc7RuuQqg
Again, I hope that you can take a moment to watch the video and try your hand and regulated English verse!
Sincerely Yours,
Jonathan Stalling <stalling@ou.edu>