LIHUE — Fifth-grade student Ginger Kamalei Hilliard from Kilauea School was awarded the Kauai grand prize in the 19th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Poetry Awards earlier this month before an audience of about 120 people.
LIHUE — Fifth-grade student Ginger Kamalei Hilliard from Kilauea School was awarded the Kauai grand prize in the 19th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Poetry Awards earlier this month before an audience of about 120 people.
“We are delighted to receive work of this caliber from this young Kauai poet,” said Melinda Gohn, awards coordinator.
Officials honored 25 student winners out of a field of over 200 entries from five Kauai schools for their peace poems in the countywide competition organized by the International Peace Poem Project, a nongovernmental organization of volunteers, including teachers and artists.
The annual competition is to honor King, the civil rights leader who promoted nonviolent means to achieve social change.
The ceremony was held at Lihue Christian Church. Presenting Hilliard with a certificate and prize were Gov. David Ige’s Kauai representative Carrice Gardner, Kauai County Councilmember JoAnn Yukimura, Mayor Bernard Carvalho’s representative Lenny Rapozo Jr., and Gohn.
Hilliard received an aluminum canvas reproduction of a painting entitled “Perfection,” donated by Maui artist Chad Parento.
Gohn said Hilliard’s winning peace poem, “I Am Peace,” uses an unusual blend of immediacy, imagery and repetition, plunging the reader into a natural world and revealing humanity existing at peace.
The Dr. King Peace Poem Teacher of the Year Award was presented to Koloa School teacher Enjoli’ Perreira.
Ige’s office provided certificates for seven “Golden Circle” winners for poetic excellence. All 25 Kauai contest winners received a Certificate of Achievement from state Senate President Kouchi and a commemorative prize poster furnished by the International Peace Poem Project.
