
2018 RIVER OF WORDS WINNERS & FINALISTS
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.