2011 Rachel Carson Poetry, Essay, Photography and Dance Contest
5th Annual Rachel Carson Intergenerational Sense of Wonder Contest
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is pleased to announce the 5th Annual Rachel Carson Intergenerational Sense of Wonder Contest.
Entries must be developed by a multi-generational team of two or more individuals — with at least one each representing the younger and older generations. Teams may submit a poem, an essay, photograph or a dance video that captures the sense of wonder you see, hear, and feel in nature. The contest takes its names from a book written by Carson and published posthumously 45 years ago, The Sense of Wonder. It reflects Carson's desire to have adults share with youth a sense of wonder about nature and help discover its joys and beauty. The contest seeks to spur and instill that same sense of wonder among all generations.
Teams will share through one of these distinct mediums their own interactions and reflections on the wonders of nature. Mixed media entries are also welcome, such as a photo accompanied with a poem or essay. Dance video entries can be of performers or capture movements and visible changes in nature from dawn to dusk. The deadline for entries is Friday, June 10, 2011.
A panel of expert judges will select finalists. The winners in each category will then be determined by the public, who will have an opportunity to vote online in August and September for their favorite submission in each category: photography, essay, poetry and dance video. Winners are expected to be announced in November.
Carson wrote that she would endow every child with "a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life." However, "if a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in."
The contest is sponsored by the U.S. EPA, the Dance Exchange, the Rachel Carson Council, Inc., and Generations United.
Get more information about the contest and see the works of previous winners.
Kathy Sykes, Senior Advisor, Aging Initiative
Office of Public Engagement
U.S. EPA (Mail Code 1702A)
1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Room 2502 Ariel Rios North
Washington, D.C. 20460
PHONE (202) 564-3651
FAX (202) 501-1770
www.epa.gov/aging