Haiku Fest awarded certificates to all participating student poets. Thanks to over 2,500 poets, parents and teachers for making Haiku Fest successful. For more information on the event, click here.
We proudly announce the following commendations:
First Prize: $100
Threads of silk so thin
The blind man’s widow crouches
Watching and waiting
Olivia Perozo, Age 14, Grade 8
University of Chicago Lab School
Second Prize: $50
She dangles her shoe,
The slim arch, inviting smiles,
Art of seduction
Alina Cui, Age 13, Grade 8
University of Chicago Lab School
Third Prize: $25
Small glittering dots
Lighting the shadowed water,
Lanterns floating off.
Phoebe Lincoln, Age 14, Grade 8
University of Chicago Lab School
Gwendolyn Brooks Award: $25
A dark blue flower
Coming slowly toward me
With a memory
Kimberly Wilborn, Age 9, Grade 4
Langston Hughes Elementary, Chicago
Founders Award: $20
Colorful splashes
Lonely canvas enlightened
Gentle brush painting
Max Roman, Age 10, Grade 5
St. Cornelius, Chicago
Honorable Mention:
The dewdrop shatters
Like a dome built from crystal
It came from my eye
An Li Shan, Age 12, Grade 6
Henry Park Primary School
Honorable Mention:
When I cross the street
I often don’t look both ways.
I do love heaven
Ethan McManus, Age 14, Grade 8
University of Chicago Lab School
Honorable Mention:
Blades of glass sharpened
Transparent soldiers readied
The great war of glass
Max Bremer, Age 14, Grade 8
University of Chicago Lab School
Honorable Mention:
Castles in the air
Soaring dreams are beckoning
Not now, Facebook calls
Akhil Rajan, Age 13, Grade 7
University of Chicago Lab School
Honorable Mention:
Lizards on the wall
You catch the tail and it’s yours
They remember you
Odell Lawson, Age 10, Grade 5
Henry H. Nash Elementary, Chicago
Poem of the School Award
Silence around us
We sat by the shore watching
The ocean waters
Morgan Howell, Age 14, Grade 8
Amelia Earhart Elementary, Chicago
Poem of the School Award
A flower has words
Which one to believe in, hmm
This one or that one?
Lizett Muro, Age 11, Grade 6
Charles Gates Dawes Elementary, Chicago
Poem of the School Award
Down under the bridge,
I sit and stare at the wall,
the wind blowing by
James Rybarczyk, Age 10, Grade 4
High Point Elementary, Orland Park
Poem of the School Award
So sweet and precious
One smile can defeat the dark
Oh, I love Grandma
Kierra Willis, Age 14, Grade 8
Kellogg Elementary, Chicago
Poem of the School Award
Sledding in the cold
Come in to sit and relax
Snowing all night long
Matt Hardt, Age 13, Grade 7
Jerling Junior High, Orland Park
Poem of the School Award
Wind sways the bamboo
Near the river flowing down
Eaten by pandas
Nancy Tran, Age 10, Grade 5
John T. McCutcheon Elementary, Chicago
Poem of the School Award
A trip to the moon
Yummy cheese cake way out there
I will eat it now!
Viviana Luna, Age 10, Grade 5
Sacred Heart School – 96th Street, Chicago
Poem of the School Award
Little puppy brown
Likes to sleep on the hard ground
Whimpering softly
Hannah Hughes, Age 10, Grade 5
St. Andrew Elementary, Chicago
Poem of the School Award
There sits here a cake
Smaller it slowly becomes
It’s life sliced away.
Kathleen Geronimo, Age 11, Grade 6
St. Bartholomew, Chicago (TIE)
Poem of the School Award
Branches form a nest
That holds fragile eggs at rest
The cycle renews.
Isabela Zamora, Age 11, Grade 6
St. Bartholomew, Chicago (TIE)
Poem of the School Award
Walking by the sea
waves crashing, moon glistening
sand between my toes
Margaret Loch, Age 13, Grade 8
St. Robert Bellarmine, Chicago
Poem of the School Award
Oh how bright it shines
But no friends to keep it warm
Hang on little star
Deisi Kazazi, Age 10, Grade 5
St. Benedict, Chicago
Poem of the School Award
Fresh, wet, squeaky, cold
Bricks and wheels, sliced, diced, chopped, strung
Luxurious cheese
Janna George, Age 11, Grade 5
St. Francis Borgia, Chicago
Poem of the School Award
A tiny flower,
Fed from the sun’s golden rays.
photosynthesis.
Katherine Fennessey, Age 13, Grade 8
St. Christina, Chicago
Poem of the School Award
tuxedo belly,
and a cool icicle home,
this is penguin life.
Miriam Porras, Age 12, Grade 7
St. Daniel the Prophet, Chicago
Poem of the School Award
raindrops on raindrops
please don’t cry, here I’ll sing you
a great lullaby
Alexandria Medina, Age 10, Grade 5
St. Viator, Chicago
Teacher of the Year:
Ms. Joann Serafin
St. Daniel the Prophet, Chicago
Honorable Mention for Teacher of the Year:
Ms. Joan Baley
St. Christina, Chicago
School of the Year:
St. Daniel the Prophet, Chicago
Ms. Joann Serafin
Honorable Mention for School of the Year:
University of Chicago Lab School
Ms. Peggy Doyle, Mr. Joseph Drogos,
Ms. Staci Garner, Ms. Lisa Miller,
Mr. Sam Nekrosius, Ms. Jan Yourist
St. Christina, Chicago
Ms. Joan Baley