In 2013, the Division of Arts and Humanities, Austin Community College (ACC), partnered with Austin Independent School District (AISD) to launch Vision+Voice, a poetry contest for K-12 students. Vision+Voice is now an annual contest and is growing as more opportunities for students are identified. Now in it’s sixth year, ACC is expanding Vision+Voice to serve all students in the ACC service area.
Vision+Voice was established for K-12 students to partake in a literacy experience that celebrates creativity and expression. Vision+Voice also fosters multiple venues for students to become published authors and artists, and provides students greater access to share their work with authentic audiences. Students are free to determine the topic and type of poem to submit. Poems of any language are accepted.
Each year, ACC Creative Writing students and faculty serve as judges for the contest and select one winning poem and several honorable mentions per grade. Both winning poets and poets who received honorable mentions have various opportunities to celebrate and publish their work. Winning poems are paired with original artwork from ACC students to produce posters that are displayed across participating ISD campuses and throughout Central Texas. Winning poets also record their poems at KLRU studios, and these videos are posted on ACC’s youtube channel and the KLRU website. Both winning poems and honorable mentions are published on this site and in a paperback anthology.
Austin Community College is proud to offer this opportunity to students as they explore and develop their creative and literary selves.