GOT MILK? Announces ‘Poetry Slam’ Semi-Finalists.

The California Milk Processor Board (CMPB), creator of the popular GOT MILK? campaign, announced 10 semi-finalists in the GOT MILK? Poetry Slam contest. The CMPB invited California teens to submit poems dramatizing the campaign’s familiar theme of “Milk Deprivation.” Teens were encouraged to explore both traditional and non-traditional poetic styles, from conventional rhyme and meter to R&B & ‘Hip-Hop’.

The Grand Prize winner will receive a $3,000 multimedia home computer plus have his/her poem broadcast on www.gotmilk.com. In addition to the Grand Prize winner, two finalists will each receive a $400 gift certificate at Barnes & Nobel and GOT MILK? merchandise.

“Teenagers are born poets and storytellers,” says Jeff Manning, CMPB executive director, “that’s why they love GOT MILK?,” adds Manning. “The entries simply scream milk deprivation. I mean, teenagers know that they can’t put Gatorade on their Cheerios.”

The semi-finalists will ‘Slam’ their entries at a special ‘Poetry Reading’ at Raleigh Studios Pickford Theater, located at 650 N. Bronson Ave. in Hollywood on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2001 from Noon-3:00 p.m. A select panel of judges, including executives from the GOT MILK?(R) campaign, authors and teen representatives, will select the Grand Prize winner and finalists.

Poetry Slam is the competitive art of performance poetry. The Poetry Slam originated in the mid-1980s, when a Chicago poet named Marc Smith came up with the idea of a poetry competition to entertain Sunday regulars at a jazz club named Green Mill. Judges were chosen at random from the audience to ‘score’ the poems. The result evolved into an international art form emphasizing audience involvement and poetic excellence. Several years and evolutions later, the phenomenon caught on nationwide.

Following are the GOT MILK? “Poetry Slam” contest semi-finalists:

Smore Milk Please – Jeremy Zwang-Weissman (17 yrs old) – Los Angeles

Nightmare In Paradise – Elice Hennessee (17 yrs old) – Los Angeles

The Milk Monster – Danny Zimmerman (18 yrs old) – La Puente

Living Without You Is Like Life Without Milk – Jason Smedley (17 yrs old) – Canyon Country

Got Milk? Haiku (Resuscitate;Oasis; Sticky Bun) – Ashley Muirheid (13 yrs old) – Fresno

Ode To Milk (a sonnet) – Anna Rosenblum (17 yrs old) – San Jose

Dipsomaniac’s Demise – Diana Chien (17 yrs old) – Fremont

Got Milk? – Wagma Yonus (16 yrs old) – San Diego

Sugar World – Megan Henkel (17 yrs old) – San Diego

Cruisin’ For A Milk Deprivation Bruisin’ – Ricardo Munoz (15 yrs old) – San Diego

The 10 Semi-Finalists were selected from over 300 entries. Criteria for selection were (I) use of the milk deprivation theme and the GOT MILK? tagline, (II) creativity and (III) originality.

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