Winners named in 29th annual poetry contest

Two Northwest Florida State College Collegiate High School students have been named winners of the 29th annual James and Christian LaRoche Memorial Poetry Contest.

Katie Dineen of Shalimar won first place and a cash prize of $100 for her poem “What Happens to a Dream Deferred?” Dineen's poem will be published in the 2015 issue of Northwest Florida State College’s annual journal of art and literature, “Blackwater Review.” The poem will be identified in the publication as the contest winner.

Savannah Gahagan of Destin placed second with her poem “Things I’d Like to Say.” Gahagan will be awarded a cash prize of $50.

Dineen and Gahagan, both sophomores at Collegiate High School, will be recognized and awarded their prize money at the Student Awards Day convocation in April.

The James and Christian LaRoche Memorial Poetry Contest is open to all NWF State College undergraduates.

For almost 30 years, the LaRoche name has been associated with poetry at NWF State College. In 1986, Christian LaRoche instituted the James N. LaRoche Memorial Poetry Contest to honor of her late husband, who was a poet and an instructor at the college from 1968 to 1983. The name was changed after the death of Christian LaRoche, when the LaRoches’ son, Frederic, changed the name to the James and Christian LaRoche Memorial Poetry Contest in honor of both of his parents and their commitment to the writing arts.