Lorain Public Library recognizes Toni Morrison poster contest winners

LORAIN — The Lorain Public Library recognized several young artists during a brief ceremony Saturday morning. Students from area elementary and middle schools received recognition for their winning posters as part of the third annual Toni Morrison poster contest, coinciding with the annual essay and poetry contest in honor of the late Nobel Laureate. Born Chloe Anthony Wofford in 1931, Toni Morrison became the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature when she was awarded the honor in 1993. Her long list of accomplishments includes earning a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 and a U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. Morrison, who grew up in Lorain and set her first novel "The Bluest Eye" in the International City, died at 88 in August 2019. Feb. 18 was designated Toni Morrison Day in late 2020. Reference librarian Cheri Campbell said this year's contest had about 30 entries from students throughout the county. State Rep. Joe Miller, D-Amherst, who introduced the legislation to mark Feb. 18 as Toni Morrison Day, congratulated the students gathered outside the Lorain Public Library's Toni Morrison Reading Room on Saturday morning. "We have a lot of great things that came out of Lorain," he said, "... but one of the most exciting things that we have done over the last few years together with the Lorain Public Library is to honor Toni Morrison." He encouraged the students who participated in the poster, essay or poetry contests — whether they won or not — to keep trying. Students also received an archival print of John Sokol's "word art" portrait of Morrison, donated by former Lorain Chamber of Commerce executive director Frank DeTillio. The work features a portrait of Morrison created with words from the first chapter of her book "Song of Solomon." The Lorain Public Library has a copy of the work, commissioned for Morrison in the early 1980s, hanging in the reading room. This year's poster contest winners were: Elementary School First place: Ariana Hopkins, Brookside Elementary School Second place: A collaborative poster by Nina Karapuda, Faith Abeyta and Thora Bernhardsson, Oberlin Elementary School Third place: Elizabeth Jordan, Columbia Township. Middle School First place: Elyanna Arkel, Longfellow Middle School Second place: Sophia Hoover, Ranger High-Tech Academy Second place: Jillian Williams, Longfellow Middle School Third place: Ava Latto, Amherst Junior High School First-place works will be displayed in the reading room through next year. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.