The 2017 CERCA Slam Winners" width="596">
A complete list of the student poets who earned top prizes in ThinkCERCA’s annual poetry competition
Hear ye, hear ye! The winners of the 2017 CERCA Slam contest have been decided and we could not be more excited to announce the winners.
This year's entrant pool was our biggest yet (triple the size of last year's) and the competition was tough. Student poets from across the country shared original writings and performances that captured emotion, memory, reflection, and insight as only poetry can do.
Our own words cannot do justice to the power of these students', though. Follow the links below to read and watch their masterful, original work:
Winners
Grand Prize Winner & Best Free Verse
Talya Byrd, “Why the Sunset Silently Mourns”
Julian Charter School, 8th Grade
Best Call-to-Action Poem
Kyleigh Stevens, “An Open Letter”
10th Grade
Best Sonnet
Wenwei Lu and Yuxin Chen, “The Sea of My Secret”
Gen. George A. McCall School, 8th Grade
Best Solo Performance of an Original Poem
Brookville High School, 9th Grade
Best Group Performance of an Original Poem
Kyla Lewis and Olivia Randle, “Systematical Fear”
GRAD Academy Memphis, 10th Grade
Best Performance of a Previously Published Poem
Amaya Nelson, “Hey, Black Child”
PS 288 Shirley Tanyhill, 4th Grade
Best Humorous Poem
Brooke Voelker, “My Confession”
Middlesex Middle School, 7th Grade
Best Concrete Poem
Salem Elementary, 5th Grade
Best Use of Sensory Details
Victory Christian Academy, 8th Grade
Best Use of Figurative Language
Battle Creek Elementary, 5th Grade
Best Use of Rhythm and Meter
Salem Elementary, 5th Grade
Honorable Mentions
Honorable Mention, Free Verse
Tony Gao and Remy Milroy, “/Freedom\”
Gen. George A. McCall School, 8th Grade
Honorable Mention, Free Verse
Maria Gonzalez, “But why would any of you listen to a girl that is only 13?”
Rachel Carson Elementary School, 8th Grade
Honorable Mention, Free Verse
Jeysson Alarcon, “Ohh America”
Rachel Carson Elementary School, 8th Grade
Honorable Mention, Sonnet
General George A. McCall School, 8th Grade
Honorable Mention, Humorous Poem
St. Cyprian School, 6th Grade
Honorable Mention, Concrete Poem
Salem Elementary, 5th Grade
Mallory Busch is ThinkCERCA's Editor of Content Strategy. A graduate of Northwestern University, Mallory came to ThinkCERCA from stops in audience strategy at TIME magazine and news applications development at Chicago Tribune and The Texas Tribune. She holds degrees in Journalism and International Studies, and was a student fellow at Knight Lab in college.