The Lanier Library will host the awards presentation to winners of the 2011 Sidney Lanier Poetry Competition on Saturday, April 11 at 2 p.m. Refreshments will be served following the presentations.

The annual Sidney Lanier Poetry Competition is sponsored by the Lanier Library and is open to poets from both North and South Carolina. More than 130 poems were entered this year from all over the two-state region. There are two competitive groups: adults and high school students. First, second, and third prizes are awarded in each group and additional certificates are awarded to poems deserving an honorable mention. Almost $1,000 is awarded in prizes.

As in the past two years, Cathy Smith Bowers, the North Carolina Poet Laureate, judged the competition entries and will be awarding the prizes following a short presentation of her own work.

Last year’s winners were both local poets: Nancy Pemberton of Tryon for her poem “For Robo Gone Away” and Polk County High School student Ash Gray for his poem “Latent.” Other prize winners were from Saluda, Columbus, Greensboro, Tryon, and Flat Rock, N.C., and Florence and Beaufort, S.C.

Everyone is invited to attend the awards presentation, hear the winning poems and congratulate the winners.