Keaau Middle School seventh grade student Zhiyan Guo was awarded the Hawaii Island grand prize in the 23rd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Poetry Awards.
Guo’s poem was selected from a field of over 125 entries.
“We are delighted to receive work of this caliber from this young Hawaii Island poet,” said awards coordinator Melinda Gohn.
The annual competition, sponsored by the Maui-based International Peace Poem Project, is to honor King, the civil rights leader who promoted nonviolent means to achieve social justice and equality.
Guo received a grand prize certificate from Gov. David Ige and a portrait donated by Maui Artist Davo of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing.
Four Hawaii Island schools also participated; 18 winning students received certificates as finalists. Michael Dillon Gonsalves, from Honokaa High ahd Intermediate School was announced as the contest Grand Finalist. Sandra Yoshikawa from Konawaena Elementary School, was named as the Dr. King Teacher of the Year.
Guo’s poem, “Fragments of Human Memory,” is a contemporary free verse poem blending immediacy with imagery to describe the longing for peace in mankind contrasted with today’s conflict with Ukraine. The final lines of the poem imagines a world at peace.
To enter in 2023, contact Gohn at poem@maui.net.