Smith Student Wins Prestigious Glascock Poetry Prize
Schuyler Clemente
Issue date: 5/13/05 Section: News
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Carolyn Creedon AC '06 took home Mount Holyoke College's prestigious Glascock poetry prize on Saturday, April 23. Smith is only able to participate in the competition once every four or five years, and Creedon is the first Smith student to win the Glascock competition since Sylvia Plath in 1955, and Plath had to share it with another student.
Ellen Watson, a lecturer for the English department and director of the Poetry Center, explained the significance of the Glascock prize.
"It's the oldest prize of its type, a college prize of poetry," said Watson, "and past winners went on to become very famous poets." Previous winners include James Merrill, Donald Hall, Kenneth Koch, Katha Pollitt and Gjertrud Schnackenberg and Robert Merrill lost when he competed.
Creedon, an Ada Comstock scholar, could hardly believe she won when the judges called her name. "I wrote when I was a regular college-aged person," said Creedon, but her path has been anything but linear. After leaving college without graduating, Creedon waited tables in California for 13 years before returning to school at Smith.
"Smith has been really weird for me," said Creedon. She was so scared of not doing well her first year that she did not write any poetry, but this year she took a workshop with Conkling Writer in Residence Eleanor Wilner and resumed her writing.
"I remember being in her workshop and thinking, 'This woman is teaching me everything that's going to get me writing again,'" recalled Creedon.
After Creedon submitted some of her poems to be considered for the Five College PoetryFest, she was notified that she was also chosen to represent Smith in the Glascock competition. The competition is annually held at Mount Holyoke, which has a student compete every year. One of the other four Pioneer Valley colleges is also selected on a rotating basis to field a candidate alongside students from several other schools across the country. As a consequence, Smith only has the opportunity to compete every four or five years.
"It's certainly very wonderful for the college to have a winner in this prize, and it's a terrific boost to the poet," said Watson. "The honor of it is enormous."
Creedon is currently applying to participate in the Smith Scholars program next year. In lieu of fulfilling her major during her senior year, she hopes to complete a book of poetry. Whether or not she is accepted to the program, she wants to try to keep writing.
"There's always this terrible fear that when I finish writing something, it's over," said Creedon. "But it was nice to win."
Ellen Watson, a lecturer for the English department and director of the Poetry Center, explained the significance of the Glascock prize.
"It's the oldest prize of its type, a college prize of poetry," said Watson, "and past winners went on to become very famous poets." Previous winners include James Merrill, Donald Hall, Kenneth Koch, Katha Pollitt and Gjertrud Schnackenberg and Robert Merrill lost when he competed.
Creedon, an Ada Comstock scholar, could hardly believe she won when the judges called her name. "I wrote when I was a regular college-aged person," said Creedon, but her path has been anything but linear. After leaving college without graduating, Creedon waited tables in California for 13 years before returning to school at Smith.
"Smith has been really weird for me," said Creedon. She was so scared of not doing well her first year that she did not write any poetry, but this year she took a workshop with Conkling Writer in Residence Eleanor Wilner and resumed her writing.
"I remember being in her workshop and thinking, 'This woman is teaching me everything that's going to get me writing again,'" recalled Creedon.
After Creedon submitted some of her poems to be considered for the Five College PoetryFest, she was notified that she was also chosen to represent Smith in the Glascock competition. The competition is annually held at Mount Holyoke, which has a student compete every year. One of the other four Pioneer Valley colleges is also selected on a rotating basis to field a candidate alongside students from several other schools across the country. As a consequence, Smith only has the opportunity to compete every four or five years.
"It's certainly very wonderful for the college to have a winner in this prize, and it's a terrific boost to the poet," said Watson. "The honor of it is enormous."
Creedon is currently applying to participate in the Smith Scholars program next year. In lieu of fulfilling her major during her senior year, she hopes to complete a book of poetry. Whether or not she is accepted to the program, she wants to try to keep writing.
"There's always this terrible fear that when I finish writing something, it's over," said Creedon. "But it was nice to win."