ASA Announces 6th “Arthur Halvajian Memorial” Armenian Poetry Competition

Rhode Island —The Armenian Students' Association, Inc. announces the start of its 6th annual poetry competition. Once again, the ASA, Inc. is partnering with the Armenian Poetry Project for the writing competition named in honor of the late Arthur Halvajian, a former trustee who led its Board in sponsoring the first competition. The 2016 competition opens April 1st and the deadline for submissions is May 28, 2016. The competition winners will be announced by the jury in June 2016.

"Over the past five years we have received hundreds of entries from across North America and continue to be impressed with the creativity, quality, and range of poems. We look forward to reaching out to even more communities in the coming months," said Alice Movsesian, a member of the ASA, Inc. Board of Trustees as well as its liaison to the competition’s organizing committee.

ASA Board of Trustees secretary M. Manoog Kaprielian sees the poetry competition as a particularly meaningful window of expression for Armenians who endured the pain of survival as refugees out of Azerbaijan and Syria, settling recently throughout the United States and Canada. “We will do all that we can to reach out wherever they may be”, stated Kaprielian.

The Armenian Poetry Project, led by poet Lola Koundakjian, is a research and documentation site for 19th to 21st century Armenian poems and related topics. Currently containing over 2500 poems, it is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. APP has a worldwide following and releases poems through RSS feeds, Twitter and podcasting.

All individuals of Armenian descent, residing in the United States and Canada are invited to submit their work, in English or Armenian, for the competition. Entries should be e-mailed by May 28, 2016 to ArmenianPoetryProject@gmail.com with the subject heading "Halvajian ASA/APP Poetry competition". Only one UNPUBLISHED poem per individual may be submitted.

The competition groups submissions into three categories; students (ages 12-17), college age (ages 18-22), and adult (ages 23 and older). A top prize will be awarded for each of the categories in the amounts of US $75 (students), $125 (college age), and $300 (adult).

Each poem submitted for the competition must be accompanied by the author's full name, age, home address/telephone number. Students must include school name and sponsoring teacher's telephone number.

You can learn more about the Armenian Poetry Project by visiting http://armenian-poetry.blogspot.com.

The Armenian Students' Association of America, Inc. encourages educational pursuits by Armenians in America and the raising of their intellectual standards, providing financial assistance in the form of scholarships to deserving Armenian students, developing fellowship among them, cultivating in them the spirit of service in the public interest, and acquainting them and the entire American community with Armenian culture.


Armenian Students' Association, Inc.
333 Atlantic Avenue
Warwick, Rhode Island 02888
Tel: (401) 461-6114
Web: www.asainc.org
E-mail: asa@asainc.org
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Contact: Nathalie Yaghoobian
E-Mail: asa@asainc.org