Rosalyn Ostler was named poet of the year and winner of the Pearle M. Olsen Book Award at the Utah State Poetry Society's 60th Diamond Jubilee and Annual Awards Festival held April 23 and 24 at the Hilton Hotel in Salt Lake City.
Ostler, who is a past president of the Utah State Poetry Society and currently serves as an officer, previously co-authored "By the Throat" with Sue Ranglack and Ned Snell and has been published in "Panorama," "Encore," "Utah Sings" and "ByLine."
Ostler's winning manuscript, "Walking the Earth Barefoot," is set to be published this summer, with plans for a book reading in October.
"This year's first-place winning manuscript, 'Walking the Earth Barefoot,' offers compelling evidence of a mind and spirit attuned to the moment-by-moment drama of our dealings with the natural environment," said judge James Cushing, San Luis Obispo's 11th Annual Poet Laureate 2009, in a written statement.
Other winners included Lee C. Snell, who took second place for his manuscript "It's Not About the Fish," and Markay Brown, who won third place for her manuscript "When Nothing Else Will Burn."
Honorable mentions were given to Patricia A. Kimber and Grace Diane Jessen.