Grad student wins grand award

Georgia College and State University graduate student Miller Oberman is one of two students in the country to win a 2005 Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship.

Oberman, who is working on her master’s in creative writing, was selected to represent GC&SU in this year’s event. Her prize for winning the Fellowship was a $15,000 grant to continue her education in whatever way she wished.

To enter, Oberman was required to send in a ten-page selection of her work, along with an application. She submitted 10 of her poems, each of which had a different subject.

More than 160 students from universities across the nation were entered in this competition. Three judges, poets H.L. Hix, Joanie Mackowski and Christian Wiman, chose the winners.

“This year’s competition for the Lilly Fellowships was fiercely competitive, and the two poets who emerged as winners are already writing at an extraordinarily high level,” Wiman, editor of “Poetry” magazine, said, according to a press release.

Wiman personally called Oberman to inform her of her achievement.

“Wiman called me and told me that I won,” Oberman said. “He liked [my poems] because I used sound in them and because they were strange.”

Oberman is extremely excited about winning the award.

“This contest wasn’t against random people, this was a competition against the best poets in the nation,” Oberman said.

She also said she was not expecting to win the award.

“I was surprised. I was definitely shocked and proud,” Oberman said. “This is definitely my highest honor. This is one of the highest prizes awarded to a young author.”

While attending GC&SU this year, Oberman is teaching an English 1101 course.

The Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship is given to two university students each year who have earned an advanced degree and are under 30 years old. These students have to be recommended by their school’s writing program, and each school may only send one representative.

Dr. Martin Lammon, coordinator of GC&SU’s Master of Fine Arts in creative writing program, asked Oberman if she wanted to enter, and she accepted.

Lammon said that it was difficult to choose the one entrant to represent GC&SU.

“There are several students that I would consider. It’s a tough choice,” Lammon said. “We have many outstanding poets in our program.”

Lammon was not surprised that Oberman won the award.

“We’re very excited for her,” Lammon said. “I’m not surprised she won. I think her work, and the work of many other of our students, can stand up to the best of other schools.”

The Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship is organized and administered by the Poetry Foundation in Chicago, publisher of “Poetry” magazine.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 16 2005. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry