Where do the little red dots of literary love come from? Who thinks up and writes the lovely little nuggets of book wisdom and word nerdry? For the first time ever, those dots of brainy flair were created by none other than Art Spark participants. The one found to be the most supreme bit of wise & witty wonderfulness by representatives of January Art Spark’s esteemed featured groups and by the entire congregation of participants, will have the honor of being published on a limited-edition, 1” red button geared toward year-round promotion of Wordstock, our education and cultural programs and, of course, writing.

The theme for the contest in this year of elections was If Writing were running for president, what would Writing’s campaign slogan be? It was quite a difficult task choosing between all the great entries, and our thanks goes to our celebrity judges from The 100th Monkey Studio and Em Space, as well as our fellow groups and attendees at the Art Spark January Event Fair for their aid in making the decision.

Congratulations to the winner of the Wordstock Art Spark Button Contest:

a pen is a pen is a pen
Michael D’Alessandro

In addition to being published on a limited-edition, 1” plastic button read by 20,000 Wordstock attendees, Michael will also receive:
• Free admission to the 2012 Wordstock Book & Literary Festival
• His name listed on the website and at the Wordstock membership and merchandise table
• Facebook and Twitter announcement about winning

And we’d like to extend a big thank you to the dedicated folk at Art Spark that made the night possible and of course everyone for who came out to the event and entered submissions!

Thank you for giving us so much to celebrate! We finished an action-packed 2011 by breaking our 2010 Willamette Week Give!Guide record. You helped us raise $4,440.50 to provide writing instruction to teachers, students, parents, and writers throughout 2012. Thank you! The Meyer Memorial Trust joined you in your support with a grant “to provide core support for literary events and programs in schools and communities”. Thanks to you, Wordstock will be in residence at Sitton, Rosa Parks, Beach, King and Harney elementary classrooms this Spring and preparing for our annual celebration of books, writers and storytelling, the 2012 Wordstock Festival!
Save the dates, October 11-14, and may your new year be full of words.