News briefs

Area residents’ work published in poetry book

Residents from Benton, Iowa and Poweshiek County are included in the Iowa Poetry Association’s annual poetry anthology “Lyrical Iowa 2025, Our 80th Year.”

Thomas Havran, of Amana, received an honorable mention for the Grant Wood County Poetry Award.

Janet Carl, of Grinnell, received an honorable mention in the category of National and World Events.

Livia Stein Freitas, of Curitiba, Brazil, received second place in the college division. Freitas is a student at Grinnell College. Iowa Poetry Association also nominated Stein’s poem “Two-pew Chapel on Iowa Highway 6” for the 2026 Pushcart Prize.

Wren Haenfler, a sixth grader at Grinnell Middle School won second place in the Upper Grades category for students in fifth through eighth grades. Maggie Lindberg, also a sixth grader at Grinnell Middle School, received an honorable mention.

Other authors published in the book are Benton County resident Jan Logan, of Van Horne; Iowa County resident John Snethen, of Williamsburg; and Poweshiek County residents Scott Montgonery Marcum, Warren Reinecke and William Rudolph, of Grinnell.

Also published were poems by Alex Bond, of Lexington, Kentucky, a Grinnell College student; River Heanfler, a sophomore at Grinnell High School; sixth graders Marilyn Karanja, Nora Laver, Seeger McCue and Gabriel Schirm, and eighth grader Johanna McCue from Grinnell Middle School

Poems for the anthology are selected from submissions to the annual Lyrical Iowa Competition. Membership is not a requirement for having poetry included in the anthology, and there are no entry fees. Contestants need only reside in Iowa.

This year, 300 poems were selected from about 2,000 entries, including six Pushcart Prize nominations. Entries came from 70 of Iowa's 99 counties, and from poets 6 to 102 years of age.

The Iowa Poetry Association has about 310 members across the state, the organization said.

Local students named to Palmer College dean’s list

DAVENPORT — Two Iowa and Poweshiek County students were among those named to the dean’s list of Palmer College of Chiropractic’s main campus in Davenport for the spring trimester.

Emma Cheney, of Victor, and Megan Sieck, of Grinnell, made the list for their academic achievement.

Judges choose Oktoberfest winners

This year's theme for the Amana Colonies Oktoberfest parade was Diamond Prost: Cheers to 60 Years!

Justin Roberts, from KCRG-TV9 TV, Clare Duffy and Eric Hanson from Z102.9, and Jerry Westmeyer, from KMRY, judged the parade.

Amana Arts Guild won Best Use of Theme; Ackerman Winery, Most Humorous; and Clear Creek Amana Marching Band, Judges Choice.