NEW IBERIA, La. --- The Shadows-on-the-Teche will hold its 1st annual Juneteenth Student Poetry Contest on Sat., June 17 at 10:30 a.m. in the gardens of the Shadows-on-the-Teche (317 E. Main Street, New Iberia). 

Using “I, Too” by poet Langston Hughes as a prompt, Iberia Parish public school students were invited to write poems to commemorate the Juneteenth National Holiday. The theme of the competition was “Freedom and Justice for All.”  

Winners of the competition will be announced in two categories: middle school and high school. Cash prizes will be awarded to first, second, and third place winners in each category. Students who placed will have the opportunity to read their poems. 

Judges for the competition were Dr. Mona Lisa Saloy, current Poet Laureate of Louisiana, Darrell Bourque, Poet Laureate of Louisiana, 2007-2011, and John Warner Smith, Louisiana Poet Laureate, 2019-2021.

The event is free to the public. Students and teachers at Iberia Parish public schools are especially encouraged to attend, as well as their family and friends. 

About Shadows-on-the-Teche

The Shadows-on-the-Teche, National Trust for Historic Preservation site, opened to the public in 1961 with the mission to preserve the buildings, landscape, collections, and historical integrity of the site; to research and interpret through education programs a 19th century southern Louisiana plantation economy and community and their evolution; and to encourage an appreciation of and interest in historic preservation. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which owns and operates the Shadows-on-the-Teche, is a private, non-profit organization. The Shadows does not receive funding from federal, state, parish, or city government. The site supports itself through admissions, special programs and events, and donations to the Friends of the Shadows.

For additional information, contact John Warner Smith, Executive Director of the Shadows-on-the-Teche at (337) 369-6446.