Fourth and fifth grade students from all across the Selma-Dallas County area gathered at the Selma-Dallas County Public Library Friday morning in order to be recognized for their efforts in the “Lets Haiku Together” 2019 contest.

Students from Brantley, Bruce K. Craig, Cathedral Academy, Cedar Park, “The” Clark, Edgewood, Ellwood Academy, J.E. Terry, Knox, Meadowview, Morgan Academy, Payne, Salem, Sophia P. Kingston and Valley Grande filled the Vaughan Room on the first floor of the library as they recited their Haikus and received a ribbon a first, second or third place ribbon for their efforts.

The contest was judged by Janice Garey, a poet from Decatur, Georgia who publishes a Haiku daily on her Facebook page.

“This is the first time, to my knowledge, that Selma City, Dallas County and the private schools have come together, to my knowledge,” said Gail Ingram, organizer of the Haiku contest. “There’s a lot of talk about how separate we are, but we don’t want to be separate.”

Friday’s meeting was a celebration of the arts, and a chance to practice unity for the schools of Selma and Dallas County.

“Anything that involves the written word is a wonderfully important part of thinking and understanding and comprehending and poetry is, of course the written word,” said Selma-Dallas County Public Library Director Becky Nichols. “To see this many children involved in such a creative process as Haiku is just wonderfully encouraging for Selma and Dallas County.”