The 24th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Poem Awards
Hawaii Writers Guild President Diane Revell took time out from her other many duties as our president to show the Guild’s support for this annual event by attending the Peace Poem Awards Ceremony held on April 29th at the University of Hawaii campus in Hilo. The event was to honor Hawaii Island students who had entered poems they had written.
The Peace Poetry Contest, a statewide event with awards ceremonies on each participating island, was started in 2000 as a way to share with Hawaii students an understanding of the need for peaceful reflection and active work toward peace. Diane arrived in time to hear remarks made by a representative from the Office of the Mayor, followed by a presentation by Gwyn Gorg. (Gwyn is a member of Hawaii Writers Guild, but was not appearing at the event in her capacity as a Guild member on that occasion. See more about Gwyn’s literary activism in the story elsewhere in this issue about her newly published book of prose and poetry.) Below are some edited highlights from the report from Guild President Diane Revell.
The Peace Poetry Contest, a statewide event with awards ceremonies on each participating island, was started in 2000 as a way to share with Hawaii students an understanding of the need for peaceful reflection and active work toward peace. Diane arrived in time to hear remarks made by a representative from the Office of the Mayor, followed by a presentation by Gwyn Gorg. (Gwyn is a member of Hawaii Writers Guild, but was not appearing at the event in her capacity as a Guild member on that occasion. See more about Gwyn’s literary activism in the story elsewhere in this issue about her newly published book of prose and poetry.) Below are some edited highlights from the report from Guild President Diane Revell.
Tenth grade student Vladimir Fedoruk (center) was the Big Island 2023 Grand Prize winner of the 24th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Poem Award. Fedoruk’s family are refugees from the war in Ukraine. He is flanked by Peace Poem Coordinator Melinda Gohn and Mayor Mitch Roth’s representative, Timothy Hansen.
Report from our President
The Mayor’s representative related some highlights of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s work peacefully fighting for recognition of the common humanity of all regardless of skin color or other personal differences.
Gwyn’s talk was very inspiring. It spoke to resolving conflict peacefully when that seemed like an unlikely outcome. She related an incident when a gang had tried to steal items from her and her husband and how they had worked to achieve a peaceful resolution. Since this was a poetry- focused event, Gwyn ended her presentation with a poem she wrote about a family of ducks in Los Angeles with the mother duck managing the ducklings’ way through a restaurant and across a busy road with the help and support of all the people seeing this very unusual sight in the city. It was a poem of interest to young and old.
Melinda Gohn, the organizer, then began the main event, starting with the youngest award recipients reading their winning poems. The winners represented many schools from 1st grade through 12th with usually a 1st and 2nd place winner for each school, each grade, and each classroom that participated. Each student received a certificate, a gift and a photo opportunity with Melinda and the Mayor’s representative.
One of the award recipients was an exchange student from China. Melinda had her read her poem in her own language, suggesting we listen to the flow and cadence of the poem. Then Melinda read the English translation of the poem.
The grand prize winner received an award certificate and an etched plaque. In addition, a teacher from among those who had students participating in the contest was selected as Teacher of the Year for 2023. Another teacher from the prior year was also recognized in person because the ceremonies were not in person during that year due to the pandemic. There were many photo opportunities for the winners of all the awards as well as a few group photos of all the winners.
Melinda regretted not having more time to talk with me in person, but was glad I could see what their Peace Poem Project was about. She hoped our two groups could share some of our work together in the future.
Gwyn’s talk was very inspiring. It spoke to resolving conflict peacefully when that seemed like an unlikely outcome. She related an incident when a gang had tried to steal items from her and her husband and how they had worked to achieve a peaceful resolution. Since this was a poetry- focused event, Gwyn ended her presentation with a poem she wrote about a family of ducks in Los Angeles with the mother duck managing the ducklings’ way through a restaurant and across a busy road with the help and support of all the people seeing this very unusual sight in the city. It was a poem of interest to young and old.
Melinda Gohn, the organizer, then began the main event, starting with the youngest award recipients reading their winning poems. The winners represented many schools from 1st grade through 12th with usually a 1st and 2nd place winner for each school, each grade, and each classroom that participated. Each student received a certificate, a gift and a photo opportunity with Melinda and the Mayor’s representative.
One of the award recipients was an exchange student from China. Melinda had her read her poem in her own language, suggesting we listen to the flow and cadence of the poem. Then Melinda read the English translation of the poem.
The grand prize winner received an award certificate and an etched plaque. In addition, a teacher from among those who had students participating in the contest was selected as Teacher of the Year for 2023. Another teacher from the prior year was also recognized in person because the ceremonies were not in person during that year due to the pandemic. There were many photo opportunities for the winners of all the awards as well as a few group photos of all the winners.
Melinda regretted not having more time to talk with me in person, but was glad I could see what their Peace Poem Project was about. She hoped our two groups could share some of our work together in the future.