USAG Daegu intern: "A poet in our midst"

DAEGU GARRISON — Park, Ye-Sin, an intern with the USAG Daegu Public Affairs Office, and a student at Daegu University won first prize in poetry in the Maeil Annual Spring Literary Contest held Jan. 9 at the Maeil Newspaper Company.

Park's award winning poem titled "Fishing at dawn" landed him the big catch. He said, "I got inspired by fishing at dawn. I tried to combine the concept of ‘fishing’ and ‘reminiscence’ to describe the atmosphere of the dawning sea."

The poem begins with the description that when dawn comes on the sea, all kinds of happy, angry, sad, lovely memories buoy on the sea, said Park.

Contest categories included poetry, novels, the traditional Korean poem, essay, children’s poem, and children’s story.

The newspaper company established this annual spring literary contest nearly 60 years ago, and since then it has become one of the biggest throughout Korea in the field of literature. More than 4,000 pieces of work entered this year's Maeil literary contest.

The honor prompted the more senior and experienced poets to charge Park, one of the youngest competitors, with delivering even more poetic works in the future.

The winners of the 2015 spring literary contest become an official poet or novelist, and get the opportunity and support to continue their writing career.

Park said, “even though I won the award in the field of poetry, I’m also interested in reading and writing other kinds of literature --ranging from novel to drama, criticism, and essay. I have to, of course, study and practice to write poetry more than before." Park plans to publish an anthology with artistically sensitive pictures included.

During his award acceptance speech, Park introduced himself and shared that he currently works as an intern with the U.S. Army.

He added, "winning the award doesn’t mean that I am on the top of my field. I think this award gave me the chance to stand in the start line. Whether I finish the race successfully or not depends on how fast and steadily I run. Therefore I will try to study how to write well, more than before.”

Expressing thanks for the award, the Daegu University English literature major then added, "I want to acknowledge my parents for bringing me up to this point and time, and I also want to thank Ms. Mary Grimes from the USAG Daegu Public Affairs Office who is my supervisor and an editor for the Morning Calm newspaper. She guided me how to enhance my writing and better organize my thoughts. Her teaching really worked on me. I will devote myself to improving my literary skills."

Many invited guests, as well as famed South Korean poets attended the ceremony.

Yeo, Chang-Hwan, president of the Maeil newspaper company, awarded the prize to winners in each of the contest's categories.

"I hope today’s winners will devote themselves to becoming a ray of light, and a swallow of water for when the society is tough, and people get tired of life," said Yeo.

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