More than 80 art and poetry finalists -- including a 5-year-old from Santa Cruz and a 6-year-old from Watsonville -- 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.
“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 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 at Saint Mary's College of California's Kalmanovitz School of Education, which sponsors the contest.
To read the poetry or view the art of the 2014 River of Words contest winners and finalists, visit stmarys-ca.edu/row.
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