A Pittsburg State University student and Montgomery County resident has won first place in a national poetry competition. Amanda Trout, hailing from Independence, received the award from "The Lyric," which is the oldest magazine in North America dedicated to traditional poetry.

Her poem was a villanelle titled "Mourners in the Wake of Wind and Rain." Trout is a sophomore and majors in English with an emphasis on creative writing, as well as Spanish with an emphasis in language and culture. She hopes to become a college professor to someday become an advocate for poetry.