Students from Virginia Highlands, Virginia Peninsula and Brightpoint Community Colleges win honors at the state poet laureate and visual art luminary competition

By Carla Kimbrough

The competition, held at Virginia Western Community College, involved winning poet laureates and visual art luminaries from 21 colleges. All 23 community colleges organized competitions, which attracted more than 200 applications across the VCCS.

For the state competition, the winners from each college submitted poetry or visual art, which was related to the competition theme, ”I Dream.”  Their work underwent a blind evaluation by a panel of judges prior to the weekend’s events. When they arrived March 27, the winners participated in private interviews with judges. On March 28, participants performed their poetry or discussed their art before an audience gathered at the Whitman Theater.

Kollin

Elena Marie Kollin, who is taking visual arts classes at Virginia Highlands, was chosen as the inaugural Visual Art Luminary of Virginia’s Community Colleges. Kollin has lived in Southwest Virginia for the past five years, during which she has been inspired to pursue artistic avenues. A summa cum laude graduate of University of California at Santa Cruz with degrees in English language literature and Italian studies, Kollin said she has always viewed education as a means for self-empowerment and improvement, which led her to enroll in visual arts courses at VHCC. She aims to become a professional artist and join an artist residency program with the National Park Service.

“I feel immense gratitude at having been chosen from a talented field of artists, and I am honored to carry the inaugural luminary torch for the visual arts,” Kollin said after winning the competition. “This win opens the door to an exciting road ahead, one that supports my future creative projects and puts a spotlight on the many deserving folks within my community.”

While the visual art competition was a part of the program in 2024, this is the first time that visual art luminaries were fully integrated into the state competition. In 2024, an overall winner was not named.

Mancuso

Connor Mancuso, a writer and poet from Williamsburg, was chosen as the Poet Laureate of Virginia’s Community College, succeeding Ana Leng. Mancuso is studying liberal arts at Virginia Peninsula Community College with the goal of transferring to a four-year program to study classical literature and creative writing. Mancuso, who describes his writing as an intersection of lyrical narrative and cosmic horror, has published one book, and is working on a novel.  He is often reading weird fiction, collecting story-seeds from late-night skies, and turning ordinary moments into something uncanny; teaching groups and individuals his unique style of free flow prose poetry mixed with deep narrative influences.

“Being named Poet Laureate of Virginia’s Community Colleges feels both deeply affirming and profoundly motivating. It means so much to know that the kind of poetry I care most about—work rooted in atmosphere, reflection, and emotional truth—resonated on this level,” Mancuso said after winning the competition. “I’m excited for what comes next and grateful for the opportunity to continue advocating for poetry, student creativity, and literary community across Virginia’s community colleges.”

Kollin and Mancuso, who were sharing their work for the first time publicly, have been invited to attend New Horizons next month.

Rivero

An art exhibit, which was assembled by Virginia Western faculty member Aerin Toler, featured the work of the Visual Art Luminaries. Attendees voted on their favorite piece for the People’s Choice for Visual Art Award, which was awarded to Estefanía Jiménez Rivero, a Brightpoint Community College student. Created using oil paint on canvas, her piece, “Lágrimas” (“Tears” in Spanish), is a self-portrait of her journey through grief after the passing of her father, Manuel Jimenez Muros, in February 2025.

“Winning the People’s Choice Award feels very special,” Rivero said. “Knowing my painting resonated with so many of the event attendees is the greatest honor I could receive.”

Before enrolling at Brightpoint, Rivero, who is from Granada, Spain, worked for nearly two decades as a pastry chef and cake in various parts of the world before turning her creative focus toward the visual arts. Rivero is now completing her associate degree in visual art with honors at Brightpoint.

Carla Kimbrough, who coordinated the state competition, called the program “invigorating.”

“To see the depth of talent in poetry and visual arts is so moving. I am so grateful that we have a way to elevate and recognize our students who have talents in the arts,” Kimbrough said. “I also deeply appreciate those who supported the students by organizing competitions, evaluating their work, or providing professional development to our winners.”

Part of weekend at Virginia Western focused on the winners’ growth as artists and poets. Guest speaker Geoffrey Kershner, the inaugural director of the low-residency MFA in Arts Leadership program at Randolph College, helped participants to think strategically about blending their passions for the arts with entrepreneurship. In addition, the students also heard from panelists who discussed how they continue to pursue their passion for the arts. Panelists who spoke to poet laureates from the Roanoke area were: Bryan Hancock, a Roanoke poet and hip-hop artist; Angelica M. Ramos Doan, a published writer who works as an adviser at Virginia Western; Christina Linsin, Western Region Vice President of the Poetry Society of Virginia; and Jim Reynolds, a bankruptcy attorney and a published poet from the Valley Writers club. Panelists who spoke to visual art luminaries were: Ana Morales, fine artist, graphic designer and magazine art director; Sung Eun Park, who works  across the medium of drawing, sculpture, and painting and Radford University art professor; Jerome Sturm, who photography and graphic design at Blue Ridge Community College,  and VCCS employee Colleen Pendry, a visual artist who also led students in mini-art projects on Friday night.

The judges for the state competition were: Dr. Jessica Ambler, director of the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University; 2026 Virginia Teacher of the Year Matthew Neale; Virginia’s current Poet Laureate Dr. Mattie Quesenberry Smith; AJ Robinson, member of the Virginia State Board for Community Colleges; and Sir James Thornhill, a Richmond-based muralist, public art director and author. They judged the college winners’ work in a blind evaluation process, interviewed each participant, and judged the performances.

Here is the full list of winners:

The work of the college Poet Laureates and Visual Art Luminaries will appear in a forthcoming book, which also will include the second- and third-place winners in the poetry competitions at the colleges. To sign up for a copy of the book, register here. For more information, contact Carla Kimbrough at ckimbrough@vccs.edu