1. River of Words Art and Poetry Contest Winners of 2009 Big Moth by Ariel Q. Moran, 6th grade Rochester Middle School; Teacher: Leslie Hill 1 st Place Category II WA State

2. Through this contest you are encouraged to learn new ways to explore your backyard, schoolyard, neighborhood, parks, watershed and other wild places. Then express what youve learned, felt and observed through words and images.

3. Students in kindergarten through grade twelve are invited to enter the poetry and art contest. The deadline for submitting entries to the international contest is December 1.

4. About 100 poems and art work from both U.S. and international entries are selected as finalists each year. All winners receive ribbons, books and/or art supplies, t-shirts and other prizes. Eight Grand Prize winners four in poetry and four in art, in four different age categories are chosen from the US entries. Category I Kindergarten-Grade 2 Category II Grades 3-6 Category III Grades 7-9 Category IV Grades 10-12

5. Winners for the International Contest are announced each April at a gala event in San Francisco, California. The Grand Prize and International winners win an all-expense paid trip to Washington, DC to attend the ROW Award Ceremony at The Library of Congress.

6. For entry forms and a complete listing of contest rules and guidelines, visit the River of Words Web site at: riverofwords.org/contest.html and/or tnl.esd113.org

7. Washington state entries in the International ROW contest are returned to the ESD 113/Chehalis Basin Education Consortium and are entered in a regional contest, Words and Images from the Watershed: Washingtons River of Words.

8. 2009 International ROW Poetry Winners

9. copyright © 2003 River of Words ®, All Rights Reserved Unseen Secrets I hide my secrets in the core of a brick and on the surface of a star. I tell my secrets to the unseen spirits around me and the light rays from the sun. Secrets live where man cannot go, in the farthest part of space and inside a velvet mite. Quinn H. Whitlow, age 7 Category I (K-2nd Grade) 2009 Grand Prize Winner St. Louis Park, Minnesota Homeschool Teacher: Lisa Burger

10. Noah Jordan, age 9 Monkey's Raincoat Prize Winner (Honoring a Short Poem in the Tradition of the Japanese Haiku) Alna, Maine Center for Teaching & Learning (Edgecomb) Teacher: Jill Cotta Reflection Yesterday, I found a person just like me in the frozen pond.

11. Grace Fitzpatrick, age 13 Anacostia Watershed Prize Winner (Honoring a Washington, DC Area Student) Washington, DC St. Peter's Interparish School Teacher: Sandra Pierce Anacostia Shakespearean Oh dear and lovely river of my dreams I watch you sway and sing the world to sleep I watch my childhood playing with the fish I remember the crystals on the waves The wildflowers that I picked in bouquets You moan, but none can hear your quiet cry You flowed to town from gentle hills above You twist and turn, you slow to quench a thirst. In winter I see tiny snowflakes fall We fail to help you now and in the past We fail, but we stand to try once again. Some say that only god can make a tree But rivers can be saved by kids like me.

12. Maddie Roach Age 11 With the Flow Our wonders, ponders, calculations, misunderstandings All of our thoughts converge and collide Explode and expand Falling, tumbling, spinning floating, Ending and being born thoughts flow down the river of life and into the watershed

13. Shadow Across The Moon Moon, shining on the lake gleaming under the headlights of the rusty Chevy truck clamoring down the highway. The lake ripples. The rock eroding down the mountain surrenders. Pines circle, water depends. Another world. Another life. A wolf steps into the open giving itself to the shadow across the moon. Arianna LaChance, age 12 Shasta Bioregion Prize Winner (Honoring a San Francisco Bay Area Student) San Anselmo, California Greenwood School (Mill Valley) Teacher: Devika Brandt

14. Noah Jordan Age 7 Bird Bird high up I climb to the sky I soar over a woods and forests I sing in the high hidden leaves of tall trees I fly south when the white flakes touch my feathers I am a bird

15. Reflection Yesterday, I found a person just like me in the frozen pond. Noah Jordan, age 9 Monkey's Raincoat Prize Winner (Honoring a Short Poem in the Tradition of the Japanese Haiku) Alna, Maine Center for Teaching & Learning (Edgecomb) Teacher: Jill Cotta

16. Some of the 2009 Winning International ROW Art Entries

17. Swan 2009 International Grand Prize Winner Atalanta Shi, Age 13 Burnaby, BC, Canada Submitted Independently

18. Killdear Category I (K-2nd Grade) 2009 Grand Prize Winner Jake Barrios, Age 7 Watsonville, California Watsonville Charter School for the Arts Teachers: Linda Cover & Allegra Bortin

19. The Brown Bear in the Deep Cave Category II (Grades 3- 6) 2009 Grand Prize Winner Erik Raul Oliva, Age 9 Chico, California Chico Country Day School Teacher: Kari Zigan

20. Night Flower Category III (Grades 7-9) 2009 Grand Prize Winner Scott Styslinger, Age 14 Birmingham, Alabama The Altamont School Teacher: Marygray Hunter

21. Remembered Water Category IV (Grades 10-12) 2009 Grand Prize Winner Eunsil Choi, Age 17 Lawrenceville, Georgia Parkview High School (Lilburn) Teacher: Judy Nollner

22. Winning Art from our 2009 WA State ROW Contest

23. Kingfisher Ariel Moran, 6 th Grade Rochester Middle School Teacher: Leslie Hill 1st Place Category II Chehalis

24. Night Leaper Erick Andrews, 7th grade Lakeside Middle School Teacher: Susie Mortensen 1st Place Category III WA State

25. Summertime Spider Wyatt Nelson, 7 th Grade Rochester Middle School Teacher: Patricia Mott Honorable Mention Category III Chehalis

26. Swimming Upstream Erick Andrews, 7 th grade Lakeside Middle School; Teacher: Susie Mortensen Honorable Mention Category III WA State

27. Winning Poetry from our 2009 WA State ROW Contest

28. The Forest When I was young I climbed the trees and watched them bend and touch the ground When I was older, I would walk the path that many had used and seen through the dappled sunlight Now I watch from the edge in a cabin by a wood And some time I may guard those who wander and play in the trees. Bryn Benson, 6th grade Washington Middle School 1st Place Category II WA State

29. Comfort I feel comfort throughout my forest where the water rumbles and glides, where red leaves dance and spiral downward, and where the wind sings to the trees I feel comfort when I gaze at animals lurking, or when I find their hidden tracks. I stare in wonder at the victorious raccoons as they proudly boast over their catch of fish. I feel comfort as I walk along the paths of mud and feel the Earth's rocks and stones. As I pluck the watery stems of flowers or as I feel the gushy moss on trees. I feel comfort in My forest. For it's My home and My place. Jordan Sherfey, 6 th Grade Chehalis Middle School Teacher: David Deitz Ist Place Category II Chehalis

30. October Sometimes when we are sleeping, October slips into town; She tints leaves red and orange, Then paints them golden brown. Each bright leaf starts dancing, In a crisp, painted gown; But when October kisses them, They laugh and tumble down. Tori Scherer, 7 th Grade Rochester Middle School Teacher: Patricia Mott 1 st Place Category III WA State

31. The Moon Hiding behind clouds, Shining bright and glowing, Waits for the next night. Jennifer Holmes, 8 th Grade Rochester Middle School Teacher: Martin Woodruff 1 st Place Category III Chehalis

32. Darkness Assaulted Just beyond the electric glow of the window, above the hapless darkness, Night spits stars across the sky, and some drip down from above, gleaming globules. Far away, where there is no window, no electric glow, Night doesn't spit stars; he throws them, streaks them, pours them in silver rivulets, liquid fire. Kyrie Benson, 10 th Grade Olympia High School 1 st Place Category IV WA State

33. All WA State ROW entrants will receive certificates of appreciation. Winners will receive art supplies, books and other prizes. ROW winners will also be recognized in late April in a special ceremony at the WA State Dept. of Ecology headquarters in Lacey and winning entries will be featured in ROW publications. For more information on ESD 113s Chehalis Basin Education Consortium, and the regional Words and Images from the Watershed: Washingtons River of Words Program, please visit our website at: http://tnl.esd113.org