2018 Poetry Contest Winners – “Friends”
Thank you so much to all of the young writers who took the time to write out their poems and enter the Family Matters Poetry Contest. We have thoroughly enjoyed reading your work. Our three judges for 2018 were: a writer and teacher, a Storycraft teacher and poet (with a master’s in critical studies), and a writer/scientist/poet and poetry aficionado. They read and appreciated each poem as part of the judging process, and considered poetic merit, creativity, how the “Friends” theme was carried through the poem, and how feeling was expressed.
Out of so many worthy poems (we received about 80 this year, with the biggest bunch in the 9-11 category), the following will receive prizes—book gift cards for places 1 through 3, a small prize of some kind for place 4; and of course, our Honorable Mentions are published here on the FMS website. Congratulations to our winners, and thank you all again! It has been a privilege. (Note: We have a “Special Mention” in the 9-11 category. Raphael Zickermann’s “Recipe for a Friend” made an impression on our judges for creativity; though it is technically not a poem, we wanted to share it here.)
Click on the name of a poem below to read it.
Ages 6 to 8
1- Catherine Bischof, 8, Obersee Bilingual School. “Friends, Friends, Friends”
2- Tamar Ashkenazi, 7, Zurich International School. “Friends (Yippy yay!)”
3- Fabio Curotto, 7, SIS Basel. “(Kind) Friends”
4- Graciela Levy, 8, SIS Basel. “Friends”
Honorable Mention:
Nikolas Albrecht, 8, SIS Basel. “Friends”
Ages 9 to 11
1- Olive Otto, 9, SIS Wollishofen. “On a Sunny Day”
2- Jessie Mitchell, 11, La Côte International School. “Friendship”
3- Helen Hanna, 5th grade, Lakeside School Horgen. “Friends Will Come and Go”
4- (Tie) Nico Otto, 9, SIS Wollishofen. “Bad Friends Good Friends”
4- (Tie) Alpay Özbek, 4th grade, SIS Schönenwerd. “Friends”
Honorable Mentions:
Julian Brasse, 11, Lakeside School Horgen. “A Friend for Life”
Anvika Chatterji, 11, Oberwil Schule. “Who Do I Need?”
Emilie Hoffmann, 10, Lakeside School Horgen. “Friendship”
Eileen Chou, 10, SIS Schönenwerd. “My Friend”
SPECIAL MENTION: Raphael Zickermann, 11, SIS Schönenwerd. “Recipe for a Friend”
Ages 12 to 14
1- Lynn Honegger, 12, SIS Schönenwerd. “Friendship Forever”
2- Mathilde Haylock, 13, Kantonsschule Küsnacht. “Best Friends for Never After”
3- Victor Zacharias, 13, Lemania Verbier International School. “Friends”
4- Alina Leupi, 12, SIS Schönenwerd. “Friends”
Honorable Mention:
Timo Bolt, 12, SIS Schönenwerd. “Friends”
