Visual Art Luminary and Poet Laureate Finalists
ESCC Acknowledges Visual Art Luminary and Poet Laureate Finalists
In November 2025, Dr. Carla Kimbrough, Director of Organizational Care and Leadership Development within the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), once again launched the Visual Art Luminary & Poet Laureate 2026 Competitions across all twenty-three community colleges in Virginia. This competition, in its second year, aims to “provide students the opportunity to express themselves creatively, verbally and visually.” As a matter of fact, “I Dream” is this year’s (2025-26) notable theme.
The two chosen winners (one for Visual Art Luminary—as headed by Professor [of English] Bill McCarter, and one for Poet Laureate—as headed by Professor [of English] Christina Duffman) from ESCC will head to Virginia Western Community College (in Roanoke) to compete on the larger stage against twenty-two other students within the VCCS toward the end of March—where they will be judged in order to win the ultimate recognition—to the Poet Laureate and Visual Art Luminary of the VCCS!
The coordinators were tasked with finding judges not associated with the college to ensure non-biased assessment as well as provide a sense of anonymity amongst the entrants of this competition; for the Poet Laureate competition part, there were four judges in charge of reviewing poems as according to the VCCS-issue rubric—and these judges (members within our ESVA community): Ann Marie Brown, Pedro Gonzalez, Jamaal Tankard, and Sandra Lewis.
After an arduous couple of weeks of reviewing poems (prose poems, to be more exact), the judges finally decided upon their winner (after listening and watching to their performative readings) for the Poet Laureate competition—Abigail Fluhart claimed the FIRST PLACE slot, Steven Lamprinos claimed the SECOND PLACE slot, and Ryshekia Allen claimed the THIRD PLACE slot (all pictured top of page, along with the Visual Art Luminary, and with Dr. Daryl Minus, ESCC President).
Ma’Lique Gray is the Visual Art Luminary of ESCC. His watercolor painting depicts the epitome of the noted theme of “I Dream”—as presented here:
