2018 RIVER OF WORDS WINNERS & FINALISTS

April 5, 2018

We are delighted to announce the Winners and Finalists of the 2018 River of Words Contest! Each year, our judges have a difficult time choosing from the many art and poetry submissions we receive, and this year is no different. This year, student poets and artists submitted work deeply interested in understanding the effect their individual actions, and humanity's collective actions, have on everything outside ourselves. In fact, this year's entries were so difficult to judge that, for the first time in memory, our judges were unable to select only one winner for the Shasta Bioregion Prize and the Monkey's Raincoat Prize. We congratulate all the students and teachers who participated in this year's contest. Thank you to all student artists and poets who shared their work with us, and thank you to all teachers who facilitated their students' participation.

The 2018 River of Words winning artwork can be found here! Winning poems, as well as the International Prize, Shasta Bioregion, and Monkey's Raincoat winners, will be posted momentarily. 

 

2018 Category I Winner

Poetry: Bozydar Mikosz, age 8, Palisade, Colorado. United States

Art: Seth Landers, age 8, Cumming, Georgia. United States

 

2018 Category II Winner

Poetry: Xander Mann, age 10, San Anselmo, California. United States

Art: Kuipi Lam, age 10, Jericho, New York. United States

 

2018 Category III Winner

Poetry: Sisira Holbrook, age 13, New Orleans, Louisiana. United States

Art: Shannen Wang, age 11, Duluth, Georgia. United States

 

2018 Category IV Winner

Poetry: Sarah Inouye, age 15, Orinda, California. United States

Art: Jiyeon Han, age 14, Cupertino, California. United States

 

2018 International Prize Winner

Seongha Choi, age 14, Seoul. South Korea

 

Monkey’s Raincoat Prize (for short poems in the haiku tradition)

Emma Grob, age 13, Wilmington, Delaware. United States

Rachel Lovin, age 15, Willow Spring, North Carolina. United States

 

SHASTA BIOREGION PRIZE (Honoring Students from Northern California)

Greer Nakadegawa-Lee, age 13, Oakland, California. United States

Datta Madhav, age 8, San Jose, California. United States

 

2018 Poetry Finalists

Ev Berger-Wolf, age 16, Oak Park, Illinois. United States

Lila Boutin, age 9, Davis, California. United States

Ariella Brodie-Weisberg, age 16, Berkeley, California. United States

Charlotte Chou, age 16, Taipei City. Taiwan

Stella Danielson, age 14, San Francisco, California. United States

Trisha Deshpande, age 8, Cumming, Georgia. United States

John Elliott McCraney, age 8, Roswell, Georgia. United States

Ruiqi Fan, age 9, Shanghai. China

Raphael Faris Rahman, age 15, W. Bloomfield, Michigan. United States

Sidne Gard, age 14, New Orleans, Louisiana. United States

Kayla Gates, age 13, Antioch, California. United States

Alyssa Gilbert, age 8, Rochester, Washington. United States

Colfax Hamilton, age 8, Cherry Hills, Colorado. United States

Naomi Hayden, age 9, Rochester, Washington. United States

Zainab Hussain, age 7, Alpharette, Georgia. United States

Oliva Irwin-Pokorny, age 13, Seattle, Washington. United States

Alana Jacqueline, age 12, Ross, California. United States

Riya Kesari, age 10, Cincinnati, Ohio. United States

Ryan Lee, age 9, Dublin, California. United States

Max Leland, age 8, Cumming, Georgia. United States

Maya Looney, age 13, Oakland, California. United States

Nethra Madhav, age 10, San Jose, California. United States

Niko Mann, age 10, San Auselmo, California. United States

Austin Maybee, age 10, Boulder, Colorado. United States

Delmaris Nuñez, age 11, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. United States

Rebecca Oet, age 15, Solon, Ohio. United States

Pavel Pavlov, age 19, Solia. Bulgaria

Aria Pennepacker, age 6, Temple, Georgia. United States

Gillian Reynolds, age 12, Corte Madrea, California. United States

Clare Troll, age 10, Somerset, Pennsylvania. United States

Elizabeth Wing, age 11, Kentfield, California. United States

Aiden Wiese, age 14, New Orleans, Lousiana. United States

Camellia Ye, age 16, Roslyn Heights, New York. United States

 

2018 “On Writing” Poetry (features poems that are reflections of the writing process)

Grace Gorman, age 14, New Orleans, Lousiana. United States

Seth D Brown Jr, age 11, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. United States

Haakan Keaney, age 10, Oakville, Washington. United States

Sophia Ohtake, age 13, Seattle, Washington. United States

 

2018 Art Finalists

Alexis Alejo, age 15, Lithia Springs, Georgia. United States

Ireland Branner, age 14, Madison, Alabama. United States

Roxy Bridges, age 14, Douglassville, Georgia. United States

Olivia Cai, age 12, Dacula, Georgia. United States

Natkitta Chaipiriya Pitak, age 9, Bangkok. Thailand

Brisa Delgado, age 13, Gainesville, Georgia. United States

Abby Deng, age 8, Duluth, Georgia. United States

Neelambari Develpalli, age 13, Hyderabad, Telangana. India

Linqi Ding, age 7, Duluth, Georgia. United States

Mack Eubanks, age 6, Atlanta, Georgia. United States

Yitian Gao, age 14, Fremont, California. United States

Ailie Gieseler, age 16, Berlin. Germany

Leah Golden, age 10, Cumming, Georgia. United States

Kevin Guo, age 10, Lilburn, Georgia. United States

Sophia Hu, age 7, Lilburn, Georgia. United States

Claire R. Jing, age 10, Snellville, Georgia. United States

Mak Ka Hin, age 10, Hong Kong. China

Ethan Kim, age 7, Little Neck, New York. United States

Stephanie Li, age 12, Hoschton, Georgia. United States

Jolie Liu, age 16, Lilburn, Georgia. United States

Jade Lu, age 15, Lilburn, Georgia. United States

Alexavier Martin-Diaz, age 16, Davenport, Iowa. United States

Wilson McConaughey, age 13, Atlanta, Georgia. United States

Kaylee Minor, age 14, Huntsville, Alabama. United States

Emma Mosley, age 13, Conyers, Georgia. United States

Rebecca Oet, age 15, Solon, Ohio. United States

Amelia Shields, age 11, Waterloo, Ontario. Canada

Isabella T. Smalls, age 13, Covington, Georgia. United States

Ashley To, age 14, Hayward, California. United States

Megan To, age 15, Hayward, California. United States

Christine A. Troll, age 16, Somerset, Pennsylvania. United States

Andrew Wang, age 8, Snellville, Georgia. United States

Jill Wang, age 12, Union City, California. United States

Gabriel Wolfersberger, age 9, Atlanta, Georgia. United States

Frazier Woods, age 7, Atlanta, Georgia. United States

Sophia Xu, age 10, Westbury, New York. United States

Athena Yang, age 10, Duluth, Georgia. United States

Chenxi (Jerry) Yu, age 8, Atlanta, Georgia. United States

Emma Yuan Luo, age 7, Snellville, Georgia. United States

 

Our 2018 winners and finalists hail from:

United States: Alabama, Georgia, California, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Washington, Michigan, Colorado, Illinois, Delaware, North Carolina

And Elsewhere: Canada, China, India, Germany, Bulgaria, Taiwan, South Korea

 

Special thanks to our guest 2018 Art and Poetry Judges who made all this possible: Andrew Mount, Jessica Boynton, Bobbie Lewis, Nestor Gomez, Robert Haas, Luz Casquejo Johnson, Christopher Sindt, and David Wood. And of course to our very own ROW Team who made the event possible: Maureen Esty, Ambereise McElrath, Amanda Ramos, Emily Ratto, and Ed Hirtzel. 

If you or someone you know are eligible for the 2019 contest, Online Student Entry Forms are now available through our website. You can find your appropriate Deadlines and Mailing Address at the bottom of the River of Words Art and Poetry Contest page.