Judge Kris Polansky                                   
Poetry: Grades 3-4 and Grades 5-6
 
Kris Polansky focuses on how different techniques for breaking lines of poetry affect the rhythm (sound) and meaning of a poem. She was impressed by the playful rhymes and rhythms of the Grades 3-4 entries and the sophisticated rhythms and pace of the Grade 5-6 entries. She encourages all those who entered the contest to keep writing. She served KAC for four years (2010-13) as Youth Contest Manager. Subsequently, she has served as a judge for the youth contest several times and is currently KAC Vice President. She has been named KAC Poet of the Year three times, most recently October 2021.
 
POETRY: GRADES 3-4
 
1st A School Day, Julia Z. Jiao, Member District 1
 
2nd How Your Kitty Loves You, Julia Z. Jiao, Member District 1
 
3rd Soccer, Ronin Rohrback
 
Honorable Mention: Doggies, Julia Z. Jiao, Member District 1
 
 

POETRY: GRADES 5-6
 
1st Some Rain, Cassandra Northerns
 
2nd Snowboarding, Eli Sun
 
3rd What is Art?, Adain Smith
 
Honorable Mention: A Family, Addison Buck
 
Honorable Mention: Spring Returns, Cassandra Northerns
 

Judge Roy Beckemeyer                               
Poetry: Grades 7-8 and Grades 9-12
 
Roy Beckemeyer is a past-President of the Kansas Authors Club and was KAC Poet of the Year for a number of years. He has four books of poetry published and his poems appear in poetry anthologies as well as in print and online poetry and literary publications. He is a retired engineer and scientific journal editor and has studied fossil insects for over 20 years.
 
 
POETRY: GRADES 7-8 
 
1st The Rose Gardener’s Poem, Madeline Male

2nd The Old Fashioned Family Farm, Madeline Male
 
3rd (TIE) Jawbreaker, Kane Johnson
 
3rd (TIE) Hay Season, Jack Etzel
 
Honorable Mention: Weightless, Campbell Hight
 
Honorable Mention: You are Not Alone, Haley Reiff
 
Honorable Mention: Women’s Rights Section, El Shipman
 
Honorable Mention: Lady Acrobat, Ava Von Lintel
 
Honorable Mention: Haiku, Eli Replolgle
 
Honorable Mention: I Have to Know, Katherine Stancil, Member District 2
 
Honorable Mention: Dancer’s Dilemma, Arielle Li
 
Honorable Mention: The Weather, Aubrey Wilkinson
 
Honorable Mention: Grandmother, Ansley Bear
 
Honorable Mention: Lineage Poem, Sophia Goombi
 
Honorable Mention: Family Poem, Cael Frazier
 
Honorable Mention: Lineage, Wyatt Schields
 
Honorable Mention: The First and the Last, Briar Page
 
Honorable Mention: Fortnite, Landon Hernandez
 
Honorable Mention: The Past Menace, Rhevl Murphy 
 
Honorable Mention: Mamba Mentality, Kerrick DeDonder
 
Honorable Mention: July 4th, Emily Ditzler
 
Honorable Mention: Pancakes, Emily Ditzler
 
Honorable Mention: Fire Absorbing You, Abigail Bael-Wyrick
 
Honorable Mention: The Rain Bombardment, Amelia Gurney
 
 
POETRY: GRADES 9-12
 
1st Childhood Best Friend, Isobel Li
 
2nd A Box for a Body, Isobel Li
 
Honorable Mention: You Said, Arabella Gipp

​If you have news of writing events that would be of interest to all Kansas Authors Club members, or if you are a member (dues current) who would like to announce an achievement, please submit your news via this form.

D5 membrs Robert L. Dean, Jr., Roy Beckemeyer, and Skyler Lovelace have ekphrastic poems in the latest edition of MacQueens Quinterly. Dean has an ekphrastic poem to a painting by Edward Hopper, to which a link is given below. His craft essay on ekphrastic writing can be found in the table of contents. You can view the painting for each by clicking the link below the poem. Enjoy the work of these talented KAC members by clicking on the links below.
 
“Home Is the Sailor” by Dean            
“Finding the Door: One Writer’s Approach to Ekphrasis”
​         craft essay by Dean   
“Piatt Street, 1965” by Dean and Lovelace.  
“Insurrection” by Beckemeyer          
“Letters From Vincent” by Beckemeyer  ​

Kris Polansky
Poetry Grades 3-4 and Grades 5-6
 
Kristine A. Polansky wrote puppet plays and some poetry as a child but her dream was to write and publish short stories. She took a fiction writing class from James Gunn at the University of Kansas and went on to teach middle school English and social studies ten years before returning to school and obtaining a law degree. Wanting a creative outlet but pressed for time while practicing law, she started writing poems. She experiments with different poetic forms and studies how content and form shape each other. Four of her poems were published in Tallgrass Voices edited by Gary Lechliter. Her poem, “Turning Points” won the 2016 Martin Luther King, Jr. Art and Writing Contest, adult division, Manhattan, Kansas. She has received numerous awards from KAC for her poetry and was named KAC Poet of the Year twice, most recently October 2020.  
 
Roy Beckemeyer
Poetry Grades 7-8 and 9-12
 
Roy Beckemeyer is a past-President of the Kansas Authors Club and was KAC Poet of the Year for a number of years. He has four books of poetry published and his poems appear in poetry anthologies as well as in print and online poetry and literary publications. He is a retired engineer and scientific journal editor and has studied fossil insects for over 20 years.
 
Krista Reed
Fiction Grades 3-4 and Grades 5-6
 
Krista Reed graduated from Pittsburg State University with a degree in Elementary Education,  and went on to receive her Master's Degree in Education from Baker University.  She has more than 25 years of experience teaching grades 2-8.  Her passion is watching children develop to their fullest potential, both  educationally and emotionally.  In her free time, she enjoys camping, reading, and spending time with her family.  Her newest title as "Gammy" is most rewarding and cherished.
 
 
Curtis Becker
Fiction Grades 7-8 and 9-12
 
Curtis Becker is a teacher, editor, and publisher living in Topeka, KS. His work has appeared in anthologies, literary journals, and magazines. He has presented on writing and teaching at academic conferences and to small groups. Becker’s book, He Watched and Took Note, was released in 2018. An educator for over fifteen years, Becker currently teaches at Holton Middle School in Holton, KS. He sponsors the yearbook and coaches scholars bowl at HMS. Additionally, he coaches debate and forensics at Holton High School. Becker earned a Bachelors and Masters in English and Creative Writing and holds professional licensure in Kansas, highly qualified in English Language Arts and Speech Communications.
 
 
Robin Clasen Wunderlich
Non-Fiction Grades 3-4 and 5-6
 
Robin Clasen Wunderlich is the editor and publisher of the Eureka Herald and President of the Kansas Press Association Board of Directors.  Robin is the daughter of the late Dick and Rachel Clasen. Dick Clasen was a KPA president and member of the Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame, as was his father, George H. Clasen II.  Robin and her husband, Wes have two children and live south of Eureka, Kansas.
 
 
Anna Curry
Non-Fiction Grades 7-8 and Grades 9-12
 
Anna Curry is a mother of four busy children on a ranch in east central Kansas.  She enjoys sharing stories about her children and their rural life on her blog as a way to not only preserve cherished memories but also advocate for agriculture.  Anna has always enjoyed writing as a creative outlet as well as woodworking.  She obtained her bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University and master’s from Texas A&M. 

May Author Talk:
Roy Beckemeyer

Stage Whispers

Winner:
2019 Nelson Poetry Book Award


Recording Available for Viewing by Members - Click Here​
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Roy will talk about the writing of his poetry book, Stage Whispers. Discussion will include how the chapters and layout came about, and how the poems were assigned to the chapters. He will read from the book as part of the discussion.

Don't forget to support our Kansas Authors! Buy a book. Review a book. Send a note of appreciation about a book. You can order Roy's book from publisher, Meadowlark Press, or wherever you buy books!

April Author Talk: Ronda Miller

Author of: I Love the Child

Winner: 2020 Kansas Authors Club Children's Book Award


Recording Available for Viewing by Members - Click Here​
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Ronda will be talking about education vs. entertainment, the importance of layered messaging, finding and working with an illustrator, inclusivity, and her objectives in writing this book.

Don't forget to support our Kansas Authors! Buy a book. Review a book. Send a note of appreciation about a book. You can order Ronda's book from her publisher, Kellogg Press, or wherever you buy books!

May Author Talk:
Roy Beckemeyer

Stage Whispers

Winner:
2019 Nelson Poetry Book Award


Recording Available for Viewing by Members - Click Here​
​​
​
Roy will talk about the writing of his poetry book, Stage Whispers. Discussion will include how the chapters and layout came about, and how the poems were assigned to the chapters. He will read from the book as part of the discussion.

Don't forget to support our Kansas Authors! Buy a book. Review a book. Send a note of appreciation about a book. You can order Roy's book from publisher, Meadowlark Press, or wherever you buy books!

Poetry written by D5 Members, Roy Beckemeyer and Robert L. Dean, Jr., appear in MacQueen's Quinterly, Issue 6, January 2021. Roy has two poems, one of which won the Editor's Choice Award, and Bob has one poem.

Bob's poem "Borderland" is under Ekphrastic Works. To see the image which inspired it, go to the website and click on the title of the photo by Chris Whitney which appears under the poem title.

Roy's two poems,  "Prothalamion" and "The Way Night's Lapidary Light Burnishes Your Skin," are under Poems, Lineated. Roy's latter poem won the Editor's Choice Award for this issue. 

Click below for the MacQueen Quinterly Table of Contents to read the poetry of these two talented D5 poets.

MacQueen's Quinterly Issue 6

It is with sincere appreciation that we acknowledge your dedication and contribution to Kansas Authors Club. Please accept this small token of our gratitude. We look forward to many more years of fellowship and growing our organization for the benefit of writers like you.
 

Length of Membership Awards
 
Fred C. Appelhanz – 15 years
Roy J. Beckemeyer – 10 years
Patricia Bonine – 10 years
Annabelle Corrick – 10 years
Edna M. Dyck – 50 years*
Pauline Fecht – 20 years
Marie Fletcher – 30 years
Jean Grant – 10 years
Yvonne Evie Green – 20 years
Reaona T. Hemmingway – 15 years
Kelly W. Johnston – 10 years
Carole Katsantoness – 10 years
Peg Nichols – 15 years
Kristine A. Polansky – 15 years
Cheryl Skupa – 10 years
Candace C. Sherman – 30 years
 
 
Octogenarians
Sylvia Colombo (2018)
Tom Mach

KAC D5 member, April Pameticky, has put together a powerful issue of River City Poetry that assembles Kansas Poets’ responses to the events of June 2020.
Members who have poems in this issue include Roy Beckemeyer, Dixie Brown, Arlice W. Davenport, H.B. Berlow, Robert L. Dean Jr., and Gretchen Eick.

Watermark Books & Cafe will host local poets Michael Poage, Diane Wahto, and Matt Cooper for a joint reading and signing of their new books on Sunday, January 5 at 2:00 p.m. Poage and Wahto are D5 members.

Roy Beckemeyer, April Pameticky & Robert Dean are doing a joint reading at Watermark Books in Wichita on Sunday, January 12th, starting at 2 PM. 

Clare MacQueen, the editor of KYSO Flash, has started a new online mag called MacQueen's Quinterly. D5 member, Robert Dean, is the featured artist, with five works in the first issue, all ekprahstic poems to the art of Steven Schroeder (the other featured artist in the issue).

Roy Beckemeyer, also of D5, has one poem in the issue, indexed under "Poems, lineated."

The new I-70 Review is out! Congratulations to the following Kansas Authors Club members who were published in this issue: Roy Beckemeyer (D5), Robert Dean (D5), Kevin Rabas (D2), Tyler Robert Sheldon (D2), Wyatt Townley (D2).
 
Order your copy from the I-70 Review website!
 
Have we missed anyone? Please send an email if there are additional members who should be listed here.