CREATE 4 FREEDOM Contest Winners Announced

Old Mill Road Media, the publisher of BERKSHIRE Magazine, has announced the winners of its first annual CREATE 4 FREEDOM Essay & Poetry Contest. One of them is a full-time mom, living in Williamstown.

The Essay and Poetry Contest challenged writers to choose one of the four Freedoms —originally declared in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s address to Congress and made popular by Norman Rockwell’s The Four Freedoms—and express how and why it is still relevant today. The works were judged on their artistry, creativity, thoughtfulness, and intelligence.

When we hosted The 4 Freedoms Festival® in Southern Vermont in the summer of 2018, almost all of our student art and poetry contestants focused their works on ‘Freedom from Fear’. While ‘Freedom from Fear’ was still strongly represented in this year’s essay and poetry entries—including this year’s winning poem... It is fascinating to see that ‘Freedom of Speech’ and ‘Freedom from Want’ resonated deeply with many of this year’s entrants. Given the events of the last year, this is not surprising. These 4 Freedoms endure because they capture our collective experience—in every generation. ~ Dr. Joshua Sherman, owner/publisher of Berkshire Magazine

The contest is co-sponsored by Arcadia Publishing and the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Get our free mobile app

The winning essay is “The Freedom to Speak, and the Freedom to Listen” by Sophia Angele-Kuehn, who graduated from Connecticut College in May 2020 with a B.A. in English and is now working as a U.S. Teaching Assistant in Tyrol, Austria.

The winning poem is “Water: unsafe to drink” by Ashleigh Catsos, a part-time fitness instructor and a full-time stay-at-home mom living in Williamstown who recently decided to pursue writing as more than a hobby.

Each of the first-prize winners will receive a $1,250 cash prize, courtesy of Arcadia Publishing and the winning poem and essay will appear in the July 2021 edition of BERKSHIRE Magazine, on newsstands this week.

The two winning entries also can be read here: CREATE 4 FREEDOM℠ Winning Essay and Poem.

KEEP READING: Here are the most popular baby names in every state

Using March 2019 data from the Social Security Administration, Stacker compiled a list of the most popular names in each of the 50 states and Washington D.C., according to their 2018 SSA rankings. The top five boy names and top five girl names are listed for each state, as well as the number of babies born in 2018 with that name. Historically common names like Michael only made the top five in three states, while the less common name Harper ranks in the top five for 22 states.

Curious what names are trending in your home state? Keep reading to see if your name made the top five -- or to find inspiration for naming your baby.

LOOK: The most expensive weather and climate disasters in recent decades

Stacker ranked the most expensive climate disasters by the billions since 1980 by the total cost of all damages, adjusted for inflation, based on 2021 data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The list starts with Hurricane Sally, which caused $7.3 billion in damages in 2020, and ends with a devastating 2005 hurricane that caused $170 billion in damage and killed at least 1,833 people. Keep reading to discover the 50 of the most expensive climate disasters in recent decades in the U.S.

LOOK: The most famous actress born the same year as you

Many of the actresses in this story not only made a name for themselves through their collection of iconic performances, but also through the selfless, philanthropic nature with which many of them approached their stardom. In an age of flipping the script on societal norms, many of these actresses are using their voices and platforms to be advocates for those who are otherwise unheard.

Filed Under: Berkshire Magazine, Create 4 Freedom, Essay, Old Mill Road Media, poem

Categories: Articles, Local News, News