Submitted by: Michael Blanchard, mdblanchard719@gmail.com on 04/07/2025
The editors of SLANT and the Vortex have announced the winners in their 2024-2025 student poetry contest at the University of Central Arkansas.
The contest was open to all undergraduate students at UCA, regardless of major, and was judged by a panel consisting of three former UCA students who are now published poets and one student editor of Vortex. Molly Coleman, a graduate student in English and the 2024-2025 Graduate Assistant for SLANT, served as contest coordinator.
That panel awarded first place to Clover McEntarffer, a junior from Conway who is a triple major in English, Creative Writing, and French, in addition to serving as the founding president of the newly formed UCA Creative Writing Club.
Second place was claimed by Caroline Young, a freshman from Piedmont, Oklahoma who is majoring in Creative Writing with a minor in Anthropology.
Rounding out the top three contest finishers is Teagon Gossett of Hot Springs, a freshman majoring in Biology with a minor in Criminology.
The trio of student poets will be officially recognized at the UCA School of Language & Literature’s Spring Awards Reception later this month, when they will receive cash prizes of $100, $75, and $50, respectively, and a framed certificate for their accomplishments.
SLANT is the UCA School of Language & Literature’s international journal of contemporary poetry. The Vortex is the University’s award-winning student literary and arts magazine.