Student Poetry Contest Winners
Click any year to see the winners for that year as well as read the winning poetry entries:
Dear Poets,
We are proud to see so many gifted young people writing poetry!
This year we received over 2,500 entries for our 32nd Annual Young Poets Contest. The theme for 2018 was based on Walt’s theme of “Tribute”. A panel of three judges selected approximately 100 winners in 11 Categories designated by grade levels. Of the 11 categories, 6 categories represent individual writers and 5 categories represent class anthologies.
The 6 individual categories each have a Grand Champion winner. We post the Grand Champion’s name and winning poem on our website. Due to privacy constraints, we do not post the other winners’ names.
We congratulate all winners for 2018! We encourage you to participate again next year.
Thank you! Keep Writing!
Sincerely,
Cynthia Shor
Executive Director
Grand Champions – Click any underlined title to download
Category A – Individual Poem – Grades 3 & 4
Bailey Brett / “Ode to the Night”
Laurel Hill School
Category B – Individual Poem – Grades 5 & 6
Saint Ann’s School
Category C – Individual Poem – Grades 7 & 8
Grand Avenue Middle School
Kara Kokolakis / “The Place of Laughter and Tears”
Mount Sinai Middle School
Category D – Individual Poem – Grades 9 & 10
Katie Gozaloff / “Respect the Badge”
Sayville High School
Katriel Murphy / “The Police Officer”
Sewanhaka High School
Category E – Individual Poem – Grade 11 & 12
Sarah Lewis / “Flight Feather”
Hall High School
Category F – Individual Anthology 3-12
Daniella Graffeo / “Praise for the Past”
Mount Sinai High School
Category G – Class Anthology – Grades 3 & 4
Mrs. Shari Zindman / Tribute
Locust Valley Intermediate School
Category H – Class Anthology – Grades 5 & 6
Ms. Linda Lebowitz / Musical Popcorn Eat Poems, Pop By Pop (Inspired by Jimi Hendrix)
Shore Road School
Category I – Class Anthology- Grades 7 & 8
Mrs. Wallace / Tributes to Life’s Treasures, Volume One
Mount Sinai Middle School, Grade 8, Period 3
Mrs. Wallace / Tributes to Life’s Treasures, Volume Two
Mount Sinai Middle School, Grade 8, Period 4
Category J – Class Anthology – Grades 9 & 10
Mrs. April Zabinsky / Our Anthology of Tributes
North Shore Hebrew Academy High School, Grade 9, Period 3
Mr. Kenny / Our Tributes
W.T. Clarke High School, Grade 10, Period 1
Category K – Class Anthology – Grades 11 & 12
Ms. Elyse Bedell / Unspeakably Perfect Miracles
Connetquot High School
Category L – Multi-media Grades 3-12
Mrs. Rand/ Ms. Rubenstein/ “A Child Floats Down a River of Dreams”
JFK Middle School
Dear Poets,
Students submitted over 2,700 entries in our Thirty-First Annual Student Poetry Contest of 2017. We are proud to see so many talented students writing poetry! Listed are the Grand Champions for each category. There are also 5–10 additional winners in each category that are not listed.
Please join us Sunday, June 4th, 2017 from 12–2PM, at the Walt Whitman Birthplace to celebrate your writing excellence. State Senator Carl Marcellino and Huntington Town Councilwoman Susan Berland will offer congratulatory remarks. Grand Champions will read their winning poems. All winners will receive a certificate and a gift bag prize.
Thank you and congratulations!
Sincerely,
Cynthia Shor
Executive Director
Grand Champions – Click any underlined title to download
Category A- Individual Poem- Grades 3 & 4
Tessse Burke/ “A Beautiful Song, a Beautiful Sound”
Bosti Elementary School
Category B – Individual Poem- Grades 5 & 6
Muskan Kumar/ “I Dreamed a Dream of a Brand New World”
Wisdom Lane Middle School
Category C – Individual Poem- Grades 7 & 8
Nathan Barry/ “The City That Was Mine”
The Laurel Hill School
Category D – Individual Poem- Grades 9 & 10
North Shore Hebrew Academy High School
Category E – Individual Poem- Grade 11 & 12
Sophia Takvorian/ “Tall Grass”
Manhasset High School
Category F – Individual Anthology 3–12
Christian Ramos/ “The Thoughts of a Quiet One”
Longwood High School
Category G – Class Anthology- Grades 3 & 4
Mrs. Shari Zindman / “DREAMS”
Locust Valley Intermediate School
Category H – Class Anthology- Grades 5 & 6
Ms. Christina Tambini/ “Dreams”
South Country School
Category I – Class Anthology- Grades 7 & 8
Mr. Karl O’Leary/ “Dreams Devoured”
Richard T. Stank Middle School
Category J – Class Anthology- Grades 9 & 10
Mrs. April Zabinsky/ “We Dream, Today and Everyday”
North Shore Hebrew Academy High School
Category K – Class Anthology- Grades 11 & 12
Ms. Ellen Michael/ “…but I’m not the only one”
Longwood High School
Category L – Multi-media Grades 3–12
Mrs. Rand/ Ms. Rubenstein/ “A Child Floats Down a River of Dreams”
JFK Middle School
Grand Champions – Click any underlined title to download
Category A – Grades 3 & 4
Ivy League School
Category B – Grades 5 & 6
Marc David Nichitiu/ “I Once Flew with Light”
The Laurel Hill School
Category C – Grades 7 & 8
Plainview-Old Bethpage Middle School
Category D – Grades 9 & 10
Bianca Zhou/ “Paper is All Trees”
Dougherty Valley High School
Category E – Grade 11 & 12
Nathalie Esther Amazan/ “Intertwined Cosmos”
Grace Christian Academy
Category F – Individual Anthology 3–12
Amani Hafeez/ “A Child Went Forth”
John F. Kennedy Middle School
Category G – Grades 3 & 4
Mrs. Shari Zindman / “There was a Child Went Forth”
John F. Kennedy Middle School
Category H – Grades 5 & 6
Mrs. Rand/ Ms. Rubenstein/ “There was a Child Went Forth”
John F. Kennedy Middle School
Category I – Grades 7 & 8
Mr. Karl O’Leary/ “The Essence of Me”
Mt. Sinai Middle School
Category J – Grades 9 & 10
Mrs. Papaccio/ “The Grand Garden of Blooming Lives”
Sewanhaka High School- Period 9
Category K – Grade 11 & 12
Kathleen Crimmins/ “Origins”
Sewanhaka High School- Period 3
Category L – Multi-media 3-12
Mt. Sinai Middle School
Click any underlined author to download
Category A – Grades 3 & 4
Alanna Wu / “Dear Mother Cloud”
The Laurel Hill School
Category B – Grades 5 & 6
Colin Muessig / “The Elegant Earth”
Wisdom Lane Middle School
Category C – Grades 7 & 8
Sarah Morgenthal / “I Run – A Fire Poem”
Plainview – Old Bethpage Middle School
Category D – Grades 9 & 10
Isabelle Scott / “A Tes Souhaites”
Ward Melville High School
Category E – Grades 11 & 12
Eleni Aneziris / “The Spark of the Sun”
Ward Melville High School
Category F – Grades 3 & 4
Mrs. Shari Zindman / “The Voice of Elements”
Locust Valley Intermediate School
Category G – Grades 5 & 6
Mrs. Rand & Miss Casey / “Behold the Elements”
JFK Middle School
Category H – Grades 7 & 8
Mr. Karl O’Leary / “Nature is Always With Me”
Mt. Sinai Middle School – Period 3
Category I – Grades 9 & 10
Mr. Mark Kenny / “Aspects of Power”
W.T. Clarke High School – Period 6
Category J – Grades 11 & 12
Mrs. Sullivan / “Elemental Voices”
Patchogue Medford High School – Period 2
Category K – Multi-Media
Lindsay Stancampiano / “Alive”
Mt. Sinai Middle School
Category L – Individual Anthology
Amani Hafeez / “Song of the Elements”
JFK Middle School
Click any underlined author to download
Category A – Individual poem grades 3–4
Violet Rand
“The Song of the Tap Shoes”
Category B – Individual poem grades 5–6
Kenny Silver
“Cat’s Lullaby”
Category C – Individual poem grades 7–8
Ashley Luo
“Golden Melodies”
Category D – Individual poem grades 9–10
Jocelyn Cheng
“Reasons”
Category E – Individual poem grades 11–12
Tianru Wang
“Magnificent Day”
Category K – Multimedia
Tatianna Spotorno
“Cello“
Category L – Individual Anthology
Crystal Huang
“Golden Concerto”