The NCTE Poetry Committee met on Friday, November 21, 2003, at the Marriot Hotel during the NCTE National Convention in San Francisco. During the meeting they generated an initial list of poets to be considered for the 2006 Excellence in Poetry Award. They also began planning the program which they would propose for the November 2004 Convention in Indianapolis. That program, called "Slammin? Jammin? Signifyin? Poets and Participants Perform Poetry", has since been accepted for the November Convention. The session will be led

by poets Jaime Adoff, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Avis Hailey, Georgia Heard, and J. Patrick Lewis who will also share tips for writing and reading poetry with students. Peggy Oxley and Sylvia Vardell will co-chair the event and Dan Woolsey will serve as Reactor/Respondent. The assigned timeslot will later be announced.

The committee also co-sponsored an all-day workshop called "Hooray For Poetry" on Monday, November 25. The program featured teachers (Peggy Oxley and Linda Willard), a librarian (Karen Hildebrand), seven poets (Georgia Heard, Kristine O’Connell George, Nikki Grimes, Alice Schertle, J. Patrick Lewis, Lee Bennett Hopkins, and Mary Ann Hoberman, to whom the Excellence in Poetry Award for 2003 was presented at the Books for Children Luncheon by Amy McClure and Shirley Ernst on Saturday, November 22) and the Poetry Alive players. Amy McClure and Shirley Ernst co-chaired the event.

The Committee will be meeting in Indianapolis to continue to refine the list of potential 2006 Excellence in Poetry for Children Award winners and to consider future program proposals.

Peggy Oxley and Sylvia Vardell, Committee Co-Chairs