The Lawnside Historical Society invites middle and high school students in Camden County to enter the "Spirit of the Renaissance Poetry Competition" in honor of Jessie Redmon Fauset, novelist, poet and author.

Miss Fauset, editor of the NAACP's magazine and a writer during the Harlem Renaissance, was born in Lawnside in 1882 when her father was pastor of historic Mount Pisgah African Methodist Episcopal Church. She was an alumna of Girls High School in Philadelphia, Cornell University and studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. Miss Fauset was a protégé of Dr. W.E.B. DuBois and a patron to poets Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston and others.

Cash prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place winners in three categories: fifth to sixth grades, seventh and eighth grades and ninth through 12th grades. The theme is "Where My Strength Lies:" Winners will read their poems at the Fifth Annual Jessie Redmon Fauset Day on April 26 at the Lawnside Public School at 2 p.m. Tickets to the program are $5 for adults and $2 for students.

Competition guidelines have been sent to public, private, parochial and charter schools in Camden County. To learn more about Miss Fauset and to download competition details, go to www.petermotthouse.org/JRFDay.html. Guidelines can be mailed from the Lawnside Historical Society, P.O. Box 608, Lawnside NJ 08045-0608 or by calling 856-546-8850. The deadline for submissions is April 1.

Funding was provided for the competition and celebration by the Camden County Cultural and Heritage Commission through the New Jersey Council for the Arts re-grant program.

The Lawnside Historical Society is a recipient of a general operating support grant for the New Jersey Historical Commission and a qualified organization of the New Jersey Cultural Trust.