Thanks to over with 1,700 poets, 44 essayists, 21 artists, and 64 teachers from 36 schools for sharing in the 21st Annual Haiku Festival workshops, readings, and events. Haiku Fest celebrates children through poetry and the arts, while promoting literacy.
Haiku Festival awards certificates to all participating student poets. Winning entries are listed below.
We proudly announce the following commendations for participants in grades 7 and 8:
First Prize:
leaves dance in the wind
silence carries them forward
rain coats them in pearls
Zoe Miranda, Age 13, Grade 8
St. Bede The Venerable School, Chicago
2nd Prize:
leaves dance in the wind
painting the sky with color
gold floods the blue sky
Veronique Glessner, Age 12, Grade 7
Newton Bateman Elementary School, Chicago
3rd Prize:
bushel of apples
crisp polished crimson delights
a worm prods at one
Nelson Burandt, Age 12, Grade 7
Galileo Scholastic Academy, Chicago
Gwendolyn Brooks CPS Award:
void hums, stars ignite
planets trace their silent paths
space swallows all time
Natalie Baran, Age 13, Grade 8
Everett McKinley Dirksen Elementary, Chicago
International Founders Award:
this full harvest moon
a faith preacher’s long sermon
fills our big baskets
Abraham Sackitey, Age 13, Grade 8
Dannaks International School, Accra, GHANA
Poem of the School Award:
sand between your toes
crashing, roaring waves, so loud
toasty, bright sun rays
Ava Sokulski, Age 13, Grade 7
Holy Family Catholic Academy, Inverness, IL
Poem of the School Award:
fake simple façades
on the outside looking in
all for approval
Melanie Chavez, Age 12, Grade 7
Josephine Locke Elementary, Chicago
Poem of the School Award:
sand flows with the waves
sunshine sparkles on the sea
laughter in the air
Norah Gorski, Age 13, Grade 8
St. Catherine of Alexandria, Oak Lawn, IL
Poem of the School Award:
rain slips through fingers
silent echoes in puddles
time is dissolving
Alisa Fang, Age 14, Grade 8
St. Therese School, Chicago
Poem of the School Award:
petals start to fall
the stem begins to mourn them
they are at peace now
Sasha Pugh, Age 13, Grade 8
Thomas J. Waters Elementary, Chicago
Poem of the School Award:
a cat that can fly?
cool video, wait, hold on
it was AI made
Jacob Garfield, Age 14, Grade 8
University of Chicago Lab School, Chicago
Honorable Mention:
“we are all equal”
until it’s an immigrant
we’re not aliens
Sofia Lemus, Age 13, Grade 8
Galileo Scholastic Academy, Chicago
Honorable Mention:
civil war breakout
keeping safe her newly born
in a gold pendant
Karen Duplan, Age 13, Grade 8
Dannaks International School, Accra, GHANA
Honorable Mention:
demonstration ground
a child holds a leader’s head
on a red t-shirt
Samuel Folorunsho, Age 14, Grade 8
Dannaks International School, Accra, GHANA
Teacher of the Year Award:
Ms. Diana Zurawski
Galileo Scholastic Academy, Chicago
School of the Year Award:
Josephine Locke Elementary, Chicago
Ms. Mindy Gonzalez
Ms. Joanne Lindley-Hernandez
Mr. Jeffrey Putnam
Ms. Arlene Garcia
Ms. Neida Martinez
Mr. David Kissane
Ms. Jennifer Salen
Ms. Miranda Marnik-Said
Mr. Jack Devitt