Rosetown poet wins provincial scholarship with self-penned work

By Ian MacKay

Madison Rawson's recitation of her poem Magic was the one adjudicator Arlene Irwin felt most comfortable with.

Rawson won the Alfredo Uy memorial scholarship for spoken word poetry or prose for those aged 17 or younger during the provincial music festival in Saskatoon on June 6. She'd been recommended for the provincial event after her performance of the same work at the Rosetown festival in late March, where she won the speech arts Anniversary trophy for the fifth consecutive time.

Madison Rawson accepts the Alfredo S. Uy memorial spoken word scholarship for poetry or prose in the 17 years and under age group from adjudicator Arlene Irwin of Calgary during the provincial music festival at Saskatoon on June 6. Photo courtesy of Krystle Rawson.

Madison Rawson performs her poem Magic during the Rosetown and District Music Festival awards concert on March 26 at the Alliance Church. Eagle file photo

She performed the piece "basically the same" as at the local festival and had practised it about once a week since then because, "at that point, I knew it pretty well," Rawson said last week.

She hadn't realized she could perform a self-penned work until her appearance at the 2025 festival.

"When I was at provincials last year, there was a girl doing her own (composition), and I asked her about it," Rawson said. "And, now, a bunch of people are doing it. I love writing my own; I just didn't know I could perform my own."

Two other competitors among the seven in her category also performed works they'd composed. Adjudicator Irwin, a drama and spoken word instructor with Calgary's Mount Royal University, "said it was incredible to see that the new generations were still writing and enjoying it," Rawson said.

Irwin "said the reason I won is because I'm the only one she felt she could just sit back and enjoy it," she said.

She's headed to Medicine Hat College in the fall. There, she aims to combine her love of dance with education for work in care homes. The college has a dance team that she hopes to join and she plans to become a health-care aide.

Some other post-secondary schools offer dance but the eight-month program at Medicine Hat represents "the best option" for combining it with care-aide training, she said.

"Dance has kind of consumed my last 12 years," explained Rawson, who's taught it for the last three years. "I love writing," she added. "I love all that kind of stuff." She intends to continue writing and hopes to publish.

After her high-school graduation, she'll work at Camp Elim, a Bible camp on Lac Pelletier, southwest of Swift Current, for the third summer.

Isabelle Sparks, Mya Nickel, Macie Kadler and Janie Wiebe also advanced to the provincial festival from the local one, as did Lilah Lowen, who also was recommended from the Eston festival.

Sparks competed in both the 17-and-under folk song or ballad class and voice concert group, where vocalists perform two or more pieces.

Nickel also sang in that ballad or folk song class and Kadler and Wiebe took part in the 13-and-under voice recital category.

Lowen, also in 13-and-under, advanced from the piano recital class here and from the Canadian or Saskatchewan music category at Eston.