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
The centipede crawls
across a crumbled gravestone,
ignorant of fate.
Abe Callard, Age 14, Grade 8
University of Chicago Lab School
Second Prize: $50
My brush, to the page
black splotches, endless laments
of tormented minds
Jonathan Liu, Age 14, Grade 8
University of Chicago Lab School
Third Prize: $20
Eyes of lucid blue
Mistaken for salty tides
Find myself drowning
Tenzin Karma, Age 13, Grade 8
University of Chicago Lab School
Poem of the School Award
Chaotic loudness
Swallowed in endless plain white
Aching to escape
Madelyn Fay, Age 13, Grade 7
Plum Grove Junior High, Palatine, IL
Poem of the School Award
the flowers will bloom
Springtime’s around the corner
no more winter gloom
Asia Howard, Age 12, Grade 7
St. Angela, Chicago
Poem of the School Award
I am a fruit bat
Give me those bananas now
Sweet and delicious
Jayden Edwards, Age 14, Grade 8
St. Sylvester (tie), Chicago
Poem of the School Award
Roses are not brown
Violets are not orange
Love stories are sad
Leila Gomez, Age 14, Grade 8
St. Sylvester (tie), Chicago
Poem of the School Award
I envy the wind
because it goes everywhere
more places than me
Sarah Isa, Age 12, Grade 7
St. Thomas of Canterbury, Chicago
Honorable Mention
A shadow of doubt
A whisper of all the hurt
A scream of silence
Aashka Trivedi, Age 13, Grade 7
Avery Coonley School, Downers Grove, IL
Honorable Mention
Ice-cream and Netflix
Watching my favorite shows
Eating and binging
Dzeneta Redzovic, Age 14, Grade 8
Passages Charter School, Chicago
Honorable Mention
Such tedious days
Following routines by rote
Feeling like caged souls
Ashley Zielinski, Age 13, Grade 8
St. Francis Borgia, Chicago
Honorable Mention
Rocks bathe in the sun
Warm to fleshy touch of life
Waves snuff out the flames
Abigail Leyden, Age 13, Grade 7
St. Mary of the Woods, Chicago
Honorable Mention
It’s slender body
Dragging across the black floor
Leaving trails of white
Taig Singh, Age 13, Grade 8
University of Chicago Lab School
Teacher of the Year:
Ms. Rebecca Grober
John Haines Elementary, Chicago
Teacher of the Year Honorable Mention:
Ms. Nilsa Lopezlena
Avondale-Logandale Elementary, Chicago
Teacher of the Year Honorable Mention:
Ms. Mindy Gonzalez
Josephine Locke Elementary, Chicago
School of the Year:
Josephine Locke Elementary, Chicago
Ms. Mindy Gonzalez
Ms. Kristina Jubera
Ms. Joann Hernandez
School of the Year Honorable Mention:
John Haines Elementary, Chicago
Ms. Rebecca Grober
Ms. Angela Twillie
Dr. Bellasanta Ferrer
Ms. Anna Khawam
Ms. Becky Yau
Ms. Yi Li Ruan
School of the Year Honorable Mention:
University of Chicago Lab School
Ms. Staci Garner
Ms. Lisa Miller
Ms. Peggy Doyle
Ms. Lisa Sukenic
Mr. Joseph Drogos
Mr. Sam Nekrosius
Ms. Deborah Davis
Mr. Mark Krewatch
Ms. Stephanie Mitzenmacher