Haiku Fest awarded certificates to all participating student poets. Thanks to over 2,000 poets, parents and teachers for making Haiku Fest successful. Winning entries are listed below.

We proudly announce the following commendations for participants in grades 7 and 8:

First Prize: $100

Stark black feathers sit
upon a small slender bird
eyes piercing the night

Lily Coe, Age 13, Grade 7
University of Chicago Lab School


Second Prize: $50

Rays glide through the waves
Plankton shine like stars above
Trailing in their wake

Justin Chang Stauffer, Age 14, Grade 8
Near North Montessori, Chicago


Third Prize: $20

Untamed toddlers roam
with levity in daycare
unending chaos!

Luca Cano, Age 13, Grade 8
St. Francis Borgia


Gwendolyn Brooks CPS Award

I saw two seagulls
And a red bird in a tree
Waiting there for spring

Marko Andreev, Age 13, Grade 8
Jamieson Elementary, Chicago


Founders Award

Pink petals drift down
Covering the ground with life
Like a rain of fire

Leo Myers, Age 13, Grade 7
Winston Campus Junior High, Palatine, IL


Li-Young Lee Essay Award – 1st Place

“Voice of the Poet”

Rachel Schonbaum, Age 17, Grade 11
University of Chicago Lab School


Li-Young Lee Essay Award – Honorable Mention

[untitled]

Nneka Jones, Age 16, Grade 11
Westinghouse High School

Poem of the School Award

The fallen roses
the streets painted with crimson
kids dropping like flies

Jordan McDonald, Age 14, Grade 8
Amelia Earhart Elementary, Chicago


Poem of the School Award

Rooms shift. Colors merge
House to house I stomp. Mom died
Daddy left. Outrage!

Irene Mensah, Age 12, Grade 7
St. Thomas of Canterbury, Chicago


Poem of the School Award

Justice is fickle
It favors man with a gun
or one with a pen.

Jonathan Silva, Age 13, Grade 8
Avondale-Logandale Elementary, Chicago


Poem of the School Award

wet dew on the grass
the sun’s rays creep through the trees
the earth yawns softly

Emily Martin, Age 14, Grade 8
St Christina, Chicago


Honorable Mention

Folds of cotton dress
As I sit down on her lap
Grandma’s stories wait

Rowan Symanski, Age 13, Grade 7
Near North Montessori, Chicago


Honorable Mention

Don”t take my candy
I am a little baby
My dirty diaper

Sergio Hernandez, Age 13, Grade 7
Josephine Locke Elementary, Chicago


Honorable Mention

an empty playground
creaking swing sets filled with ghosts
of happy children

Jonathan Liu, Age 13, Grade 8
University of Chicago Lab School

Teacher of the Year:

Ms. Nilsa Lopezlena
Avondale-Logandale Elementary, Chicago


School of the Year:

Josephine Locke Elementary, Chicago
Ms. Mindy Gonzalez,
Ms. Moyers