Casteen Named ‘Distinguished Judge’ for U.Va. Writing Contest

From staff reports

John Casteen IV, poet and visiting assistant professor of English at Sweet Briar College, was named one of two distinguished judges for the 23rd annual Writer’s Eye competition, sponsored by the University of Virginia Art Museum.

Casteen is the author of the poetry collection, “Free Union.” He lives in Earlysville, Va., and has taught at Sweet Briar since 2007. He will judge poetry entries in the contest’s high school and university/adult divisions.

Novelist Sarah Collins Honenberger, author of “Waltzing Cowboys” and “White Lies,” was selected to judge the high school and university/adult prose entries. Honenberger was a 2002 fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.

The Writer’s Eye competition runs from Sept. 21 through Nov. 20 and challenges writers from third grade to adult to create an original piece of poetry or prose using artwork from the university’s art gallery as inspiration. Winning entries will appear in the 2009 Writer’s Eye anthology.

This year’s contest focuses on three exhibitions currently on display at the museum: “Thomas Jefferson’s Academical Village: The Creation of an Architectural Masterpiece,” “The Expanding Eye: Art Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe,” and “Abstract Photography: Selections from Glenstone.” Writers also are free to draw insight from items in the museum’s permanent collection.

For more information, visit the University of Virginia Art Museum’s Web site.