“Another successful Collin County Poetry Contest Awards Ceremony,” Beth Ayers, the Chairman, had proudly declared. Grandparents, parents, principals, teachers and other guests came to hear poets, young and adults read their winning poems during the ceremony, held on Sunday, April 21 at 2 p.m. at the Heard-Craig Hall in downtown McKinney.
The Mockingbird Chapter of the Poetry Society of Texas, based in McKinney, has sponsored the annual Collin County Poetry Contest for 42 years. This year’s contest was opened from Oct. 25, 2012 through January 19 to students in kindergarten through 12th grade in Collin County public, private and home schools. The contest was also opened to adults residing in Collin County and to the members of the Mockingbird Chapter regardless of residence.
Sixty schools around Collin County participated in the contest with a total of 534 entries. The judges chose 42 winners: 35 students, 4 from the adult category and 3 from the Mockingbird Poetry Society. The judges announced and presented awards to the winners in all categories:
Kindergarten:
First, Alyssa Mullen, poem – Happy Things
Second, Sarah Hameed, poem – I Like Princesses
Grade One:
First, Daniel Hendrix, poem – My Dog Rosy
Second, Sanjana Arulkumaran, poem – Together With My Friends
Third, Sidhya Ganesh, poem – My Class Teacher
Honorable mention, Maya Musallam, poem – My Friend Jack
Grade Two:
First, Rhea Rai, poem – Our Trip to New Orleans
Second, Asmita Kulkarni, poem – Friendship
Third, Tabor Menard, poem – New York
Grade Three:
First, Rhea Sood, poem – The Sound of Music
Second, Aubrey Fransen, poem – You’re You and I’m Me
Third, Cassie Liu, poem – The Little Red Bird
Grade Four:
First, Jaqueline Parnell, poem – The Plus-back
Second Kayla Cheney, poem – Pterodactyl
Third, Grace Childers, poem – I Love the Look of Fireworks
Grade Five:
First, Stephanie Zhou, poem – Ballet in Spring
Second, Amparo Calella, poem – Tapping On My Window
Third, Yu Xuan Ai, poem – The 2 Paths
Honorable mention, Toni Case, poem – Arrows
Grade Six:
First, Josh Fiffick, poem – Outcasts
Second, Alina Jarrett, poem – The Truth Will Not Frighten Me Now
Third, Bradly Wilkinson, poem – Spiders
Grade Seven:
First, Paige Kirkham, poem – Swept Away
Second, Molly Johnson, poem – It’s a Viola, Not a Violin
Third, Brooke Gannaway, poem – When Shall Heaven Return
Grade Eight:
First, Erika Hoover, poem – Walk the Extra Mile
Second, Joy Watkins, poem – Hope
Third, Mario Magana, poem – The Beauty of Mexico
Grade Eleven:
First, Rebecca Shinn, poem – Metamorphosis
Second, Sarah Denke, poem – Read to Soar
Third, Mikaela Stutts, poem – That Fearsome Orange Ball
Honorable mention, Lainey Godwin, poem – The Dream of a Cheerleader
Grade Twelve:
First, Kaleigh Koenig, poem – Infinite
Second, Scott Sherrell, poem – River of Regret
Third, Garett Jeffries, poem – “How strong the love ...”
Adults:
First, Laura Mullen, poem – Old Uncle
Second, John Coffey, poem – Growing Up With Collin County
Third, Daniel Logan, poem – Volume 1
Honorable mention, Maleka Michaud, poem – The Storm
Mockingbird Chapter:
First, Beth Ayers, poem – Gentle Reminders
Second, Edmund Burke, poem – Eight Grade
Third, Daniel McMillen, poem – Road Wars
Irene Robertson, the Mockingbird Chapter President, who handled and emceed the awarding ceremony, said she couldn’t agree more that the Award Ceremony was indeed, a marvelous success.
