The difficult task of judging the heartfelt, thoughtful, creative, and poignant entries has been completed, and we now have our top scorers list ready to announce! There were some close scores, and the judges had some tough decisions to make. The judges unanimously conveyed that they were blown away by the creativity and powerful imagery students brought to our theme of "Feels like Home". 
We are so grateful to each and every poet who submitted their work and allowed us to lift your voice. You have brought smiles and joy to our community, and shared your visions of home and family. Together with your families, our judges, and our sponsors, we have shown that our community truly does value poetry, the creative lives of our students, and wants to celebrate their voices.  
We are Buckeye!

Congratulations to the following poets for receiving the top scores from our judges!
 

Kindergarten 
"Home Is Family… and Strawberries" by Lucas Chiu

1st Grade 
"Family" by Miranda Hampton

2nd Grade 
"A Nomad's Love" by Tessa Kai Agnew

3rd Grade 
"Time To Write" by Truly Wright

4th Grade 
"Feels Like Home" by Edyn Morales

5th Grade 
"Home is a Trusted Place" by Kabir Agarwal

6th Grade
"The Blooming Daisies" by Ashley Scholz

7th Grade 
"Wanderlust" by Sayo Fortie

8th Grade
"Anything" by Shaunaleah Roberts

Awards are being distributed to poets' school sites. Honored poems will be on display at the Bookhouse book store in Cameron Park this June. 
 

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Thank you to our esteemed judges!

Our judges spent hours reading every poem and thoughtfully scoring them. We are grateful for all their efforts! Our judges are:

• Taylor Graham - Taylor Graham is the Inaugural El Dorado County Poet Laureate Emerita (2016 - 18), and remains an integral active leader in the El Dorado County poetry community. She is a member of Tuesday at Two Poetry and Friday Writers workshops.

• Sue Crisp - Sue Crisp is a local author and poet, and member of Poetic License, Tuesday at Two poetry, and Friday Writers workshops. Winner in  the Voices of Lincoln poetry contest. Former introduction to poetry teacher for elementary and middle school students at Holy Trinity school in EDH. Sue has been a judge for our region's Poetry Out Loud high school poetry competition, and returns for a second year to judge the Buckeye Education Foundation Poetry Showcase.

• Jan Robbins is the El Dorado Hills Library's Branch Manager, and is in her second year of judging the BEF Poetry Showcase. 

• Sandra Kelsey is a librarian at the El Dorado County Library. Sandra returns for a second year after serving as a judge in the Buckeye Foundation's inaugural Poetry Showcase in 2021.  

• Brian Boies has been serving youth and fostering their expression for over twenty years.  He is currently the Youth Services Librarian at El Dorado Hills Library where his focus is on older children and teens.  Personally, he writes every day and works hard to live a life full of creativity for him and his family.

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