The Sawyer Free Library hosted the 2022 Poetry Without Paper Contest winners Thursday evening, June 9th.

The award-winning students read their poetry to a standing-room-only crowd filled with friends and family and then recognized for their achievements. John Ronan, former Poet Laureate of Gloucester, and Christy Rosso, the Sawyer Free’s Children’s Librarian, presented the awards. Ronan, who serves as one of the contest judges and co-conceived the contest 20 years ago, stated, “I believe that there are probably future Nobel Poet Laureates among tonight’s winners. The caliber of creativity and writing this year was outstanding. We should be proud of all the students that participated.”

The Sawyer Free Library’s Poetry without Paper Contest has celebrated thousands of local students’ outstanding writing for the past 20 years while engaging the community’s youth in the art form and encouraging them to use poetry as a creative expression.  

Winners were chosen from each age group: high school, middle school, and elementary school. First-place winners in all categories received $150 Cape Ann gift certificates, second-place winners a $100 gift certificates, and third-place winners a $50 gift certificate with Honorable Mention awarded a poetry book. All winning poets receive a certificate and an invitation to appear on 1623 Studio’s production, The Writer’s Block with John Ronan.

The 2022 Winning Poets:

High School:      

First Place: “Tears of the Chrysanthemum” by Olivia Hogan-Lopez, GHS, 12^th Grade

Middle School:    

First Place:   “Ascending like Icarus” by Emma Wilt, O’Maley, 8^th Grade

Second Place:  “The Wrong Picture” by Esme Sarrouf, Homeschool, 8^th Grad

Third Place:  “Cracked, but Never Broken” by Aleena Brown, O’Maley, 7^th Grad

Honorable Mentions:  “The Owl” by Riley Cavanaugh, O’Maley, 7^th Grade

“Where I’m From”, Emily Rattray, O’Maley, 7^th Grade

Elementary School     

First Place:  “Magical Books”, Kathleen Rowe-Joyce, West Parish, 3^rd Grade

Second Place: “Fifth Grade”, Gabriella McKearney, Plum Cove, 5^th Grade

Third Place:  “Friends” by Elizabeth Olson, Beeman, 5^th Grade

Honorable Mentions: “Lost” by Bianca Numerosi, Plum Cove, 4^th Grade

“Gravity” by Jack Frithsen, West Parish, 2^nd Grade