Winners read poems during annual contest hosted by Veterans For Peace Gainesville chapter.
Poems about saving the planet and restoring peace were read at this year’s Peace Poetry contest hosted by the Veterans For Peace Gainesville chapter.
This year was the 13th annual presentation of the contest that was held Saturday at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Gainesville at 4225 NW 34th St.
More than 200 poems from students in grades K-12 were submitted to the contest, and 26 winners were invited to read their poems at the event, organizers said.
Guardian newsletter: Gainesville Guardian will transition to an email newsletter format
Peace poetry: Poems for peace
Peace chain: Rosa Parks Quiet Courage Committee hosts 'Community Chain of Peace' event in Gainesville
“The judges had a hard time narrowing down the winners,” said Sheila Payne, contest organizer. “There were so many excellent poems. It’s amazing to see young kids with sophisticated thoughts.”
Melanie Hobson, one of the judges, introduced each winner.
“Their work explains the compilation of peace and social justice that only poems can convey,” Hobson said.
This year’s winning poets were Rylee Keith, Daniel Atria, Henry Teaford, Chu-Mei Anderson, Kylie Nobles, Audrey McNall, Sol Primosch, Reyam Abed, Maddie Diegl, Paxton Ferry, Parker Gunnett, Brock Laplant, Nik Paranjpe, Alliyah Johnson, Taliyah Briggs, Jayne Beaty, Lucas Young, Emma Zuvich, Natalie Jones, Sophie Slimak, Isaiah Josey, Juan Castillo, Katherine Scarlett, Natalie Heard, Natalie Rodriguez and Skylar Scott.
“I love writing poems,” Scott said. “You can say so much with so little.”
Scott is a senior at P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School and the title of her poem was “Peace Cannot Come In Pieces.”
“I can’t have peace if someone else don’t have it,” Scott said.
Scott Camil, president of the Gainesville chapter of VFP, and Paul Ortiz, Ph.D, director of the University of Florida's Samuel Proctor Oral History Program and VFP member, introduced the winners for this year’s scholarship awards.
“It was a great turnout and the poems were incredible,” Camil said. “The poetry readings are important because you can see what’s on the kids’ minds and this is an outlet where they can express themselves.”
Camil said Scott will perform her poem at this year’s 37th Annual Veterans For Peace Winter Solstice Peace Concert on Dec. 9 at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship where the organization will be raising funds for next year’s scholarships.
During this year’s poetry reading contest, Veterans For Peace awarded four college scholarships of $1,500 each to Laylani, a student at Pace Center for Girls Alachua whose last name is not published because of privacy requirements at the school; Rahel Berelsman, a senior at P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School; Carmelos Brown, a retired U.S. Army veteran and student at Santa Fe College and Adrian Price, a SF College student and volunteer with the “Education In and Out of Prison" program.
“This was a great opportunity for me and this will be beneficial towards my education,” Berelsman said. “I needed the financial help. It was great to see the children read the poems they’ve written and to see that they are aware of what’s going on.”
For more information about VFP, visit www.vfpgainesville.org.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Veterans For Peace Gainesville hosted 13th annual Peace Poetry contest
