World's Largest Youth Poetry & Art Contest Winners to Receive Awards at Saint Mary's

More than 80 art and poetry finalists -- including several from the Bay area -- were selected from thousands of entries from around the world for the 2014 River of Words International Youth Creativity, the largest environmental youth poetry and art competition in the world.

Thirteen remarkable young poets and artists, ranging from age 7 to 17, will be honored at Saint Mary's College of California’s River of Words International Youth Creativity Awards ceremony on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in the LeFevre Theater in Moraga.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be emceed by former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass, who co-founded the contest 19 years ago with writer Pamela Michael, who directs the Center for Environmental Literacy in Saint Mary's Kalmanovitz School of Education, which sponsors the contest.

“The mission of River of Words’ is to promote literacy, the arts, and environmental awareness. Our goal is to help children fall in love with the earth, and you can see in the works of these young artists a deep appreciation and understanding of the world around them,” said Hass.

Beyond recognizing talented young poets and artists, Michael says the contest fosters environmental literacy through art. 

"That is especially important with the current emphasis in schools today on science, technology, engineering, and math or STEM," she said. "River of Words illustrates the value of including the arts in the mix, expanding STEM to STEAM for science, technology, engineering, 'arts' and math."

For more information, and to see all art and poetry finalists, follow this link.

(Attached to this story are some of the local art finalists from the Bay area.)