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John Bkila Sub-Editor jbkila@oakvillebeaver.com Oakville's Lit Café poetry competition is back The Oakville Literary Café's poetry competition has returned, giving budding poets the chance to win a $100 first-place prize. The second place winner of the Pull-up your Poetry Boots contest wins $50, while third walks away with $25 and poetry books. The competition will be part of a special Poetry Month Lit Café set to take place Sunday, April 24 at the Joshua Creek Heritage Art Centre, 1086 Burnhamthorpe Rd. E., from 1-4 p.m. The event will also include two featured performers, guest readers and an open mic session. "As last year's competition was so popular, we are going to have the same judge selection and judging technique," said event organizer Ivy Reiss in a media release. "This means we will have three judges -- two of them will be selected ahead of time, and the third judge will be chosen at the Lit Café event. Anyone interested in being a judge will put their name in a hat at the Lit Café, and we will select the name before the competition starts." Judging will be based on 10 points -- five for the poem and five for performance/delivery. The works are rated on creativity, originality and style, while performances will be judged on vocal clarity and stage presence. "This year, we won't be incorporating certain words into the poem, instead, we will be incorporating the Octarine Women Artists' Collective paintings into the poems," said Reiss. The Octarine Women Artists' Collective will be on display at Joshua Creek from today (Friday) to Sunday, May 8. The exhibit is free to attend and paintings from the Encore Sampler are also available to view online at www. octarineartists.com. Poem submissions must meet the following criteria: · should be inspired by or written about one piece of art (either on display at Joshua Creek or online in the Encore Sampler) by the Octarine Collective; · between 100-250 words; · the name of the visual art piece the poem is written about needs to be included in the poem (this does not include the title of the poem); · the name "Octarine" must also be included in the poem, but the context can be abstract or creative. Artscene 19 | Friday, April 1, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" As last year's competition was so popular, we are going to have the same judge selection and judging technique. This means we will have three judges -- two of them will be selected ahead of time and the third judge will be chosen at the Lit Café event.... This year, we won't be incorporating certain words into the poem, instead, we will be incorporating the Octarine Women Artists' Collective paintings into the poems. Oakville Literary Café organizer Ivy Reiss There is a limit of one poem per person/entry. The deadline for poem submissions for the competition is Friday, April 22 by email to Ivy Reiss at ivy_reiss@ hotmail.com and Elka at ere@bell.net. For more information about the Oakville Literary Café, visit www.facebook.com/OakvilleLitCafe. For more arts news, visit insidehalton.com/oakville-on. `Like' the Oakville Beaver on Facebook. T H E L I V I N G A R T S C E N T R E p r e s e n t s 1 in 9 children in Oakville woke up in poverty today. You can make tomorrow different. TM T H E I N T E R N AT I O N A L S E N S AT I O N See what all the noise is about. 19 & 20 7 PM APR Please give generously. uwoakville.org