North Carolina Poetry Society
Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series

The original GCDPS guidelines were approved by the NCPS Board in June 2004.
Minor changes incorporated below were approved by NCPS Board in June 2006.

Refer also to the Student Application Form.

Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series

Goal of the Series:

The goal of the Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series (GCDPS) is to support the mission of the North Carolina Poetry Society (NCPS), that being to foster the reading, writing, and enjoyment of poetry across the state, with the following priorities:

1. Increase outreach across the state
2. Involve students new to the NCPS
3. Provide expert guidance to promising student poets
4. Increase skills of poets, both student and adult
5. Develop new venues for student poets and experienced poets to read together
6. Provide opportunities for student poets to read at local venues such as their local libraries
7. Develop mentoring relationships between student poets and experienced poets

Overview of the Series:

Three Distinguished Poets, one each from the east, central, and west of North Carolina, will mentor a middle-school, a high-school, and a college or university student within the respective regions (as defined, by counties, on the list at the end of these guidelines). Home-school students will be eligible to participate. Within these regions, each Distinguished Poet will present one reading with his or her students. Each Student Poet will present one local reading of his or her own work in his or her local library, and the Distinguished Poet may attend these readings, as feasible. When possible, the North Carolina Center for the Book will provide funding for Distinguished Poets to read at local libraries, if they choose to participate in the Student Poets’ local readings.

Distinguished Poets may also be invited to read at the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, in Southern Pines, NC, as part of the Sam Ragan Writing Series on a Sunday afternoon. Funding for this reading may come through the Weymouth Center. If the coordinators of the Weymouth Series desire such an event, they will be responsible for contacting the poets and arranging the event.

Origin of the Series:

The GCDPS originated when the NCPS Board voted in 2003 to follow the advice of Fred Chappell, then North Carolina’s Poet Laureate. He had written and advised the NCPS president about various approaches to take in furthering the NCPS mission of encouraging the reading, writing, and enjoyment of poetry. The GCDPS plans evolved from that correspondence and earlier discussions by Board members.

The Process — Funding and Progress to Date:

A grant proposal was tailored by a group of interested poets and NCPS Board members to address some of Fred Chappell’s recommendations. Mr. Chappell graciously agreed to allow the NCPS use of his name in the program title. Past president Marie Gilbert generously agreed to fund this series in the inaugural years. The NCPS Board had voted already to establish meetings in the eastern and western parts of the state, and these meeting locations paved the way for the new GCDPS.

A Coordinating Group (Sally Buckner, Lois Wistrand, Sharon Sharp, Bill Blackley, and Marie Gilbert) was formed. These poets met and corresponded to write proposed guidelines for the series. NCPS members in each of the planned regions reviewed the guidelines to ensure clarity and uniformity in implementation, wherever possible. The recommendations from all of these poets were taken under consideration and then reviewed by Fred Chappell, and his recommendations were incorporated in the plans.

On May 13, 2003, the NCPS Board approved the following motion:

"That a Distinguished Poet Series committee be established, composed of the NCPS President, the First Vice President, two or three appointed committee members, and Marie Gilbert. The committee will review the proposal and make recommendations to the Board as to how bring it to fruition. The first year of the series will act as a trial series, and the donor will decide if it is worthy of continued support."

Definitions for the Series:

1. Coordinating Group:
   The first-year Coordinating Group has been composed of the persons listed previously, plus ex officio member Fred Chappell. After the program’s first year, the NCPS president will seek recommendations from the Board, the Coordinating Group, and the Regional Groups about people to serve on the Coordinating Group for the next year. At the January Board meeting, the president will recommend, for the Board’s approval, the Coordinating Group’s members for the coming year.



2. Regional Groups:
   Three Regional Groups will be formed, one each in the east, central, and west regions of the state. The Coordinating Group will create the opportunity for the regions to develop this program and, thereafter, provide ongoing oversight and feedback. The Regional Groups will include three to five poets in each region who are interested in advancing the goals of the GCDPS. The Regional Groups will be self selecting, but each group will not include more than two members from a single institution. The Distinguished Poet for that region cannot also serve on the Regional Group or the Coordinating Group during his or her tenure as Distinguished Poet. The regional group cannot choose one of its own members as the Distinguished Poet. If no group forms in a region, that region will not have a Distinguished Poet program for the year in question.

Guidelines for Implementation:

1.   The Coordinating Group will:

• Provide support and backup for the three Regional Groups.
• Coordinate activities with and report directly to the NCPS Board. Should questions arise, the Regional Groups will address these to the Coordinating Group, which will present all matters not covered in the guidelines to the NCPS Board for final approval.
• Ensure that money flows to each Regional Group yearly.
• Evaluate the success of each program yearly by reviewing the annual report of the Regional Groups.
• Produce a brochure to promote the GCDPS.
• Write a general press release announcing the GCDPS.
• Write general articles for the North Carolina Writers’ Network newsletter, as well as the NCPS newsletter and Website.
• Assist in promoting the GCDPS, wherever possible.
• Prepare a standard application form for Student Poets and make copies available to the Regional Groups, who will distribute them as widely as possible in the regions. The Coordinating Group will also work with the NCPS’s VP for Student Contests to provide a GCDPS application form to every winner (including honorable mention recipients) in the NCPS’s annual Student Contests, as announced in May and indicated in Pinesong (the NCPS’s annual publication of winning poems in the Adult and Student Contests).
• Prepare a standard application form for Distinguished Poets and make copies available to the Regional Groups, who will distribute them as widely as possible in the regions.
• Review the Regional Group’s annual report received by December 1 and include that review in an annual written report to the NCPS Board submitted via email to the board members by at least one week before the January Board meeting. The written report will include but not be limited to:
             — Written summaries from Regional Groups
             — Written evaluations from the DP and Students
             — Coordinating Group’s evaluation and recommendations for action
  
• Appoint as publicity person who will forward advance publicity for each regional event as received from the regional publicity person and sent it to the NCPS Newsletter, web site and NCPS publicity chair in time to meet publication deadlines.

• Be composed of three to five members selected from the region. The Coordinating Group will help establish Regional Groups by initially inviting some members, who will in turn select the remaining members. The Coordinating Group may thereafter suggest names of members to the Regional Groups, but it will be the responsibility of the local poets to select their own members and chairperson. The qualifications of these members will be up to the Regional Group. Membership in the NCPS will not be required for participation.
• Ensure that, during any given year, no more than two of the Regional Group’s members are from a single institution.
• Invite a Distinguished Poet yearly, based on the standard application forms submitted.
• Review with the invited Distinguished Poet the particulars of the program, including planned dates for the regional reading, local readings (especially when the North Carolina Center for the Book’s budget will pay the Distinguished Poets to read in the local libraries), and the reading at the Weymouth Center, should that be funded. The primary criterion for the Distinguished Poets is that each one be an established poet.
• Announce the GCDPS and distribute Student Poet application information as widely as possible throughout the region.
• Seek recommendations regarding potential Student Poets from the NCPS’s 2^nd VP of Student Contests, teachers, local poetry groups, poets, community leaders, etc., and, whenever possible, give application forms to those students.
• Based on the standard application forms submitted, invite three student poets yearly to participate: one from a middle school, one from a high school, and one from a college or university. Home school children will be eligible, with the parent or other adult in the role of the teacher. If no qualified student is identified in one of these categories, then an additional student may be chosen from either of the other two categories.
• Annually select the site for the regional reading.
• Promptly notify student poets of the results of the selection process.
• Immediately after selecting the Student Poets, send the Coordinating Group a list of these poets and any particular criteria for selection that were applied (e.g., wide geographic representation throughout the region).
• Arrange the initial meeting between the Distinguished Poet and each Student Poet, and, if need be, help identify an appropriate location for the subsequent one-on-one meetings.
• Submit expenses to the NCPS treasurer on the standard reimbursement forms available through the private resource page on the NCPS Website.
• Work with the Student Poets and Distinguished Poet to present a regional reading.
• Set up and run the regional reading at the location selected by the NCPS Board, with input from the Coordinating Group and the Regional Group.
• Help Student Poets set up their local readings (in libraries, community centers, etc.).
• Write a yearly summary of the regional program and send it to the Coordinating Group by December 1. This summary will be included in the January report to the NCPS Board.
• Appoint as publicity person who will write advance publicity for each regional event and sent it to the Gilbert Chappell Coordinating Group publicity person by mid October.

• Have substantial teaching experience and have published (not self-published) at least one book of poetry.
• Review a total of approximately one dozen pages of poetry for each Student Poet.
• Provide written comments to the Student Poets about the poetry they submit for critiquing.
• Meet at least twice face-to-face with each Student Poet.
• Coach each Student Poet in public reading.
• Read with the Student Poets at the regional site.
• Attend, when possible, the local readings by the Student Poets. (As noted previously, if the Distinguished Poet also reads at any such events, he or she might receive an honorarium from the North Carolina Center for the Book.)
• At the end of his or her term, provide the Regional Group with a written summary of interaction with the Student Poets. This written summary will be included in the annual report to the NCPS Board in January.
• Provide a safe environment for meeting with each Student Poet.

• Send approximately one dozen pages of poetry to the Distinguished Poet, on a schedule to be determined by the Distinguished Poet.
• Respond in writing to suggestions made by the Distinguished Poet.
• Attend at least two face-to-face meetings with the Distinguished Poet.
• Read poetry with the Distinguished Poet and the two other Student Poets at the regional reading.
• Read poetry at one local venue (such as the local library). (As noted earlier, the Distinguished Poet may attend and participate in the local readings.)
• Give the Regional Group a written evaluation of the GCDPS after having participated in the regional and local readings.

• Ensure selection of a poet that meets the established guidelines.
• Follow a process of application and selection that will include widespread notices in the NCPS newsletter and on the Website, as well as in the North Carolina Writers’ Network newsletter and other publicity routes. The notices will include the name of each Regional Group’s chairperson and will give directions for applying. A standard application form will be given to all poets expressing interest in the program.
• Be the choice of the Regional Group, with equal opportunity given to all applicants (i.e., without regard to race, creed, religion, national origin, sex, etc.). After having selected a Distinguished Poet, the Regional Group will send the Coordinating Group a copy of the poet’s application form, plus a full listing of that year’s applicants. The Coordinating Group will present these materials at the NCPS’s January Board meeting.
• Allow for a specific Distinguished Poet to serve for two consecutive years.
• Exclude service by the Distinguished Poet on the Regional Group or the Coordinating Group during the year in which he or she is serving as the Distinguished Poet. The regional group cannot choose one of its own members as the Distinguished Poet.

• Begin with a review of all of the standard application forms submitted to each Regional Group.
• Be the choice of the Regional Group, based on criteria established by the Regional Group (see earlier points).
• Be made after the selection of student winners of the annual NCPS Student Contests.
• Include for each region one middle school, one high school, and one college or university student. Home school student will also be eligible in any school-level category. If no appropriate application is received in any category, an additional student may be chosen from either of the other categories.

• Select the Distinguished Poet for the year as soon as possible.
• Begin selecting Student Poets soon after the May announcement of student winners of the NCPS Student Contests and complete the process by October 1.
• Promptly notify student poets of the results of the selection process.
• Select regional reading sites and submit publicity articles regarding the regional reading to the Coordinating Group by Mid October.
• Arrange and conduct the regional reading.
• Assist the Distinguished Poet and Student Poet in establishing local public library readings. Coordinate with the North Carolina Center for the Book to obtain funding for each event as in the separate instruction sheet.
• Present a written summary of their programs to the Coordinating Group by December 1 of each year.

• Have articles written by Regional Groups in the hands of the Newsletter Editor, web master and NCPS Publicity Chair by November 1.
• Forward a written report via email to the NCPS Board at least one week in advance of the January Board meeting.

• Begin work with students after October 1.
• Conduct a Regional Reading with the Student Poets as coordinated by the Regional Group.
• Conduct a local library reading with the individual student as coordinated by the Regional Group.

• The NCPS treasurer will pay each Distinguished Poet $700 after that poet’s regional reading with the Student Poets. The check will be sent to the Regional Group chairperson, who will present it to the Distinguished Poet.
• Each Regional Group will be reimbursed up to $150 by the NCPS treasurer for expenses such as mailing application forms, printing flyers, publicizing events, and purchasing a poetry book to be given to each Student Poet by the Distinguished Poet.
• The Coordinating Group will be reimbursed up to $150 by the NCPS treasurer for expenses such as mailing application forms, printing flyers, and publicizing events. Marie Gilbert will deliver a check to the NCPS by November 1 of each year in the amount of $2,700 ($2,550 for the aforementioned expenses, plus $150 to cover any NCPS expenses).
• Unexpended monies will remain in the GCDPS line item of the NCPS budget and will be reviewed with Marie Gilbert annually.
• The North Carolina Center for the Book will pay the Distinguished Poets directly. A separate instruction sheet will be provide to the Regional Groups concerned how to obtain this money.

• Have final authority over the GCDPS guidelines and their implementation.
• Review the program at the January Board meeting.

B. The Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series Regional Committees

East Committee — Members:
       Rebecca Godwin (Chair), Katie Barnes, Jim Clark,
              Kathy James, Nancy King, Marty Silverthorne
East Committee — Contact:
       Dr. Rebecca Godwin        rlgodwin@barton.edu       (252) 399-6364
       Dept. of English and Modern Languages
       Barton College
       Box 5000
       Wilson, NC   27893

Central Committee — Members:
       David Bell (Chair), Ron Bayes, Thomas Heffernan,
              Debi Hobbs, Larry Levine
Central Committee — Contact:
       David Bell        belldj@sapc.edu        (910) 277-5334
       Assistant Professor of Creative Writing
       St. Andrews Presbyterian College
       1700 Dogwood Mile
       Laurinburg, NC 28352

West Committee — Members:
       Mary Adams (Chair), Libby Campbell, Catherine Carter
West Committee — Contact:
       Mary Adams        madams@email.wcu.edu        (828) 227-3269
       English Department
       Coulter 305
       Western Carolina University
       Cullowhee, NC   28723

C. The NCPS Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series State Coordinating Committee

State Coordinating Committee — Members:
       Bill Blackley (Chair), Fred Chappell, Sally Buckner,
              Sue Farlow, Beth Browne, Mollie Carlin
State Coordinating Committee — Contact:
       Bill Blackley       wjblackley@gmail.com