2020 Sejong Writing Competition
Sijo Winners
| Adult Division | Pre-college Division | |
|---|---|---|
| First Place | Alice Davidson Houston, TX sijo |
Andy Zhao Langley, BC Canada 12th grade, Heather Smith Burnaby North Secondary School sijo |
Elizabeth Flesch Hartland, WI 12th grade, Elizabeth Jorgensen Arrowhead Union High School sijo |
| Second Place | Kim Jasper Stockton, MO sijo |
Matthew Umhoefer Hartland, WI 12th grade, Elizabeth Jorgensen Arrowhead Union High School sijo |
| Third Place | Julie Shute Encino, CA sijo |
Riley Taylor Singlelands, NY 10th grade, Robin Henderson Tocci Academy of the Holy Names sijo |
| Honorable Mention Friend of the Pacific Rim Award |
Mike Reese Oconomowoc, WI sijo |
Trace Morrissey Hartland, WI 12th grade, Elizabeth Jorgensen Arrowhead Union High School sijo |
| Jeffery Bolognese Columbia, MD sijo |
Dalton Elrod Hartland, WI 12th grade, Elizabeth Jorgensen Arrowhead Union High School sijo |
|
| Hannah Kim San Mateo, CA sijo |
Esther Kim Potomac, MD 11th grade, Melinda Salata Holton-Arms School sijo |
|
| Susan Luther Huntsville, AL sijo |
Briaja Brooks Cleveland Heights, OH 12th grade, Melinda Cales Cleveland Heights High School sijo |
Adult division
My name is Alice Davidson, and I have been a World History and Chinese and East Asian Cultures teacher for 40 years, the last 30 at Episcopal High School in Houston, TX. My hobbies include traveling, and reading historical fiction, biographies, and anything about Asia. I was fortunate to live in China for several years, and to travel to Korea with the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia in 2017. I learned about sijo while attending the National Korean Studies Seminar in Los Angeles in 2019. My future goals are to continue finding ways to bring East Asia into my curriculum and provide my students with cross cultural experiences. My personal hero is my grandmother Alice, for whom I am named. My main childhood memories are of her sitting in a chair knitting and telling stories of past generations of our family.
I am a retired English teacher and journalist. I now consult with students and teachers, present writing workshops, and serve in organizations that provide scholarships for student writers. I stay flexible by practicing and teaching yoga.
I chose to write a sijo and enter the competition to (partially) fulfill one of my goals for 2020: be more creative. I wasn’t familiar with the format, so I found the Sejong Cultural Society’s videos, suggestions, and examples helpful. The juxtaposition of images during the COVID-19 pandemic seemed like a good place to start as I mused about topics and subjects. I was struck by the image of the refrigeration trucks and ice rinks being used to store dead bodies. As a teacher, I always appreciated the forced creativity demanded of a formula poem. Thanks for the opportunity to stretch my creativity; I never expected to place, so that was nice surprise.
I am a middle school teacher from Southern California, who enjoys eating good food, traveling, singing in the car, and petting fluffy animals. I was teaching my students about Ancient Korea, and was lucky enough to find numerous great sources of information, including the Sejong Cultural Society. I learned about sijo poetry and shared what I'd learned with my kids. I encouraged my students to enter the contest, and was inspired by their creativity to create a poem of my own.
I work in HVAC in Wisconsin, but in my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family, boating, playing horseshoes and riding my motorcycle.
For the past two years, I’ve written sijo and then shared them at a poetry reading my sister-in-law hosts. Our friends all write and share multiple sijo. I really enjoy the creative thought process that goes into writing sijo.
I got the inspiration for my sijo from my love hate relationship with rollercoasters! I look forward to writing and sharing future sijo with friends and family.
I would like to thank my dear friend Liz Jorgensen, champion of sijo poetry, for introducing me to this form.
My name is Jeff Bolognese, and I'm an aerospace engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. I live in Columbia, MD with my wife Cindy, my son, Nathan, my daughter, Evie, and our husky/golden retriever mixed breed dog, Sadie (and Trident the turtle, and Phantom the hamster). I became interested in Sijo poetry several years ago after hearing a piece about this particular poetry form on KBS World Radio. I've been writing Sijo on and off ever since. I've always enjoyed creative writing and, as an engineer, I like the challenge of fitting verse to the specific structure of Sijo while still maintaining a song-like quality and ending "twist" that characterize it. In my free time I enjoy cooking, hiking, playing board games with my family, and trying to play the guitar. My family is very patient with both my cooking and guitar playing!
I am a philosophy PhD candidate at Stanford University. I'm grateful for the competition and the opportunity it gave me to learn about sijo as a poetic form.
I am a vintage poet who has been writing, publishing, and leading poetry-writing groups for years. Even so, I was unaware of sijo until the Society’s announcement of its writing competition came in the mail. Though I usually write free verse, I also enjoy the discipline of writing in form, and when I consulted the rules and website examples / tutorials, the sijo’s intriguing structure plus its thematic and emotional range made it irresistible. The sijo I submitted comes from my personal experience and time-of-life perspective. Many thanks to the Society; having this beautiful form to learn and work on during the Covid lockdown has been a particular gift. – Susan Luther.
Pre-college division
"I’m Andy Zhao, and I’m a grade 12 student at Burnaby North Secondary. I’m pursuing post-secondary education in Computer Science, but writing and other creative pursuits have been hobbies of mine for quite a while. Writing poetry, whether structured or free verse, have always been a great expressive and emotional outlet. I feel especially satisfied when my outbursts create something eloquent. I learned about this contest through my creative writing teacher at school. During our poetry unit, she encouraged us to try this type of poetry, and when I first read a contemporary sijo, I was inspired by how much emotion was conveyed with such little words. I felt compelled to submit into this competition-no harm, right? I had no expectations to win, rather, it was just a fun experience. My poem was partly inspired by my own feelings, and partly created in my imagination. I wanted to convey the emotion of desperation and sorrow, and so I just started writing and letting words flow. Love is a complicated thing, and sometimes it’s better to think less than to overthink it. I’m honoured to have received the first place award. I entered the competition expecting nothing but a bit of fun, and so I’m honestly in awe that I would be afforded such an honour. To Ms. Smith, thank you for supporting and encouraging me. To the Sejong Cultural Society, thank you for giving me this honour."
My name is Elizabeth Flesch and I am a senior at Arrowhead High School. I am a part of my school’s Forensics Team, Drama Club, Stage Crew, and German Club. In the fall I will be attending DePaul University. I intend to major in Communications and Media, and hope to work in Multimedia production someday. I’ve always liked to write, and I’m glad I got to express my creativity through this poem! I entered this competition through my creative writing class, and I’m so thankful my teacher Ms. Jorgensen introduced me to this beautiful art form.
I decided to write about the relationship with my sister and how it changed because it has had such a big impact on my life. Like many others, my sister and I started off despising each other. But as we got older, our relationship got closer. So once she left for college, I finally realized how important having a strong relationship with your sibling is. Writing this sijo has taught me to cherish every moment with my family and friends.
My name is Riley Taylor, and I am a sophomore at the Academy of the Holy Names in Albany, New York. I enjoy playing sports, especially soccer, and spending time with my friends and family. I am very interested in science, and I hope to pursue a career in biology in the future. Writing has always been a passion of mine, and I have grown to appreciate poetry so much more this year. My older sister has always been a huge inspiration in my life as she has helped me to become the person I am today. She always tells me about her dreams to help premature babies when she is older as she was premature herself. In this is found inspiration for my sijo. I am very grateful for my teacher, Mrs. Tocci, who has taught me everything I know about sijo poems and who introduced me to this competition!
My name is Trace Morrissey and I am currently a senior at Arrowhead High School. Once I graduate, I am enlisting in the Air Force with the end goal of becoming a pilot. During my free time, I like to spend time outdoors with friends. I also enjoy going up north to spend time on a lake, or skiing. One person who has always been my hero is my grandpa. He taught me so much about life and how to treat people respectfully. Although we lost him in November 2019, I feel as if he is still teaching me lessons today. I learned while writing my sijo I needed to connect with the reader and to trigger an emotion. Since I have learned this, my writing has drastically improved. My inspiration for writing this poem came from a Vietnam War veteran that came and spoke with our class one day. He talked about how he lost good friends in the war and how he cannot forget some of the things he saw while fighting. We also wrote letters in class to veterans going on the Honor Flight. Most people wrote back and those who did had an impact on everyone who read their response.
My name is Dalton Elrod and I am a senior at Arrowhead High School in Hartland, WI. I played football, basketball, and baseball and ran track while in high school. I will be graduating in June and will be playing football, on scholarship, for Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. I enjoy hunting, fishing and playing frisbee golf.
Ms. Jorgensen, my English teacher, introduced me to this competition. I had no idea I would win, but I am proud of this piece. Writing a sijo poem brought out my creativity and I enjoyed showing it to others. I am extremely grateful for her support this senior year and I am honored to be part of this competition.
My name is Esther Kim, and I am a junior at the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland. As a first generation Korean-American, I frequently reflected on my parents’ journey to America and their cultural influence on me. This sparked a defined interest at the intersection of English and History, which led to my discovery of poetry. My poems, including the one recognized by the Sejong Cultural Society, often explore my relationships with Korea and America. I am extremely grateful for the efforts of the Sejong Cultural Society in broadening awareness of Korean culture. Through this competition, I have been able to learn about not only the craft of writing sijos but also the often-neglected history of Korea.