Age 8 and younger
First Place
Singing in Tennessee
Tristyn Burton, Middle Tennessee EMC
When I look up at music city
The people are dressed so pretty.
I think of redbirds raccoons and more
I want to go to the music store
I like singing and songwriting too.
I want to learn something new.
I want to go to Music Row
so I can hear my songs on the radio.
That is why I like Tennessee.
So come and sing songs with me!
Second Place
The RoseMary-Margeret Ewing, Duck River EMC
The rose is a beautiful flower,
Peg found the rose,
she thought it was pretty,
it was a very nice yellow color,
she picked the yellow rose,
she brought it to her mother,
and asked her to put into a glass vase,
then Peg put the rose in the vase on the table and said,
“I hope this yellow rose never wilts nor fades ” ,
and it never did,
it was a magical rose and it will never drop one petal for ten, thousand years.
Third Place
Tennessee FootballTimothy Myers, Caney Fork EC
The orange and the white
There so big and strong
The opponents get scared
as they come out
All the kids smile
when they see Smoky the dog
And all the people shout
When theres a touchdown
The hometown
is the place I was born
So go, go Tennessee go.
Age 9 to 13
First Place
How Acne Helped Me
Reagan Honeycutt, Sequachee Valley EC
When the red bumps struck,
Loneliness struck
And when loneliness struck,
Sadness struck
and when sadness struck,
Thoughts struck,
And after thoughts struck,
Time struck,
And when time struck,
New friends struck,
And when new friends struck,
Realization struck,
and when realization struck,
I had real friends.
Second Place
…inside your head
Reese Davis, Southwest Tennessee EMC
Many thoughts roaming in my head
as I’m lying down in my bed.
Two a.m. comes around, still no sleep,
complete darkness as I weep.
All alone, no one in sight
Only accompanied by the black of night.
During the day the emotions I hide
Nobody knows what’s truly inside.
Stories have said, watch under your bed!
But what they don’t know is that
The real monsters are inside your head.
Third Place
Tennessee Home to Me
Noah Turner, Powell Valley EC
Mountain ranges to river basins
Heritage quilts and historic places
Tennessee you see, is home to me
To the minnow in the creek and the bass in the pond
To the crowds singing, Ole Rocky Top
Tennessee you see, is home to me
From eclectic music found,
to the blood that’s been shed
Tennessee you see, is home to me
Searching for your gospel roots
finding faith and hearing the proof
Tennessee you see, is home to me
The changing of the seasons
for me is a beautiful site to see
Tennessee you see, that’s the state to be
Age 14 to 18
First Place
nothing is as it seems
Dolores Sally Mendoza-McEwen
As I awake today knowing today will be a great I look out and see the iris looking back at me
the iris gives a message by rainbow
So you see many things are not as they seem
Like Tennessee seems like any other state yet the truth is that Tennessee is not just a state
It is a symbol that when we come together great things will happen just like a it’s a messenger to us
Tennessee is a messenger to the USA
The iris is a part of many flowers just as Tennessee is a star the flag
Second Place
Once A Year
Shawn Dodson, Caney Fork EC
Her iridescent leaves fall on the sheaved ground.
Her crystal water bears the sweetest scent.
Her breathe that she takes all around.
Her beauty that never fades and her image never bent.
Her existence is aging, but engaging
Her eyes that are sleek and glee.
Her freedom is never caged.
Her hair is bountiful and free.
With the blooms and the glamour the trees become once alive.
Her aura becomes cold and steel.
Her senses that thrive
Her life was never a hoax, it’s real.
She repeats this
craves this once a year.
Tennessee shed’s a tear
Third Place
Tennessee Evenings
Madison Apple, Duck River EMC
In the countryside of Tennessee,
Each season’s eve has individuality.
In spring the soft winds blow,
As little frogs peep from creeks below,
And calves bawl from distant meadows.
In summer the days grow long,
Warm breezes fill the hills,
Bringing sweet scents through open windowsills.
In autumn the trees are changing,
Sending leaves tumbling,
And small animals scurry to hide
All their little treasures inside.
In winter the days grow short,
Windows become shut up, as in a fort.
There is beauty, though, in the icy cold light,
As the snowflakes dance in the soft twilight.
Age 19 to 22
First Place
Grand Divisions
Lita Cavallino, Meriwether Lewis EC
Three stars in unison,
Three stars bequeathed,
Upon the state in which we meet.
Those imperious mountains
Which humbles in the East
Do only forge a single piece.
Cotton laden lowlands
Once home to the king
Are just a verse in the song we sing.
Let us forget not the third –
The Athens, the heart, the capitol
Lie amongst the hills completing us whole.
Three white stars we call home
Three white stars, proud to call our own.
Second Place
Beauty in Autumn
Korey Grohler, Cumberland EMC
It’s only during autumn that an evening drive
through back roads becomes a necessity.
And the further into the countryside you travel,
the better the view becomes.
Drive slow to enjoy the scenes. The trees brighten
with the rich colors of red, yellow and orange.
Every gust of air pulls the leaves from their
branches to create a whirlwind of fiery hues.
You may even see a lone deer between the trees.
Their graceful forms and strong legs guard
the herd and young. But you will only see them
grazing on herbs today. There is no threat nearby.
Ages 23 to 64
First Place
First Love: Gardens
Hunter Keough, Pickwick EC
a heaven gilded with okra / sunshine
planted in hands / alabaster seeds
youthful nurturing / buttercups
christened / the high-boned heart
sprouting from home / laughter / ladies’ fingers
some of the seeds are still inside me.
soft grass between / toes of the eyes
that’s how it felt growing up to the wind
whisking clouds with green / periphery
fruitless dances / before being cut down
stripped one-too-many gardens / milk-grass
hardens into a stillness / a bone
no more rising / no green wind / a garden
is a silence / being eaten almost whole
Second Place
Fine-Feathered Ambassadors
Lori Cochran, Meriwether Lewis EC
What’s the word, Mockingbird?
What is there to see;
In this state that claims you,
The one called Tennessee?
“Sister Bluebird likes the west,
Especially Memphis town.
She says it’s full of soul;
She loves that “bluesy” sound.”
“From Reelfoot to Great Smokies,
See Brother Eagle proudly soar.
He assures, from west to east,
The glorious sights you’ll adore.”
“Even cousin Rooster
Gives the volunteers a shout.
He boasts, ‘That Grand Ole Opry
Is something to crow about!’”
“I’m just repeating others,
You know that’s what I do.
See for yourself, happy trails,
And say, a little bird told you!”
Third Place
Pine Stand
Mary Hodges
Green pines guard like sentinels
Of a mysterious underworld.
Limbs reach, pointing to yellow needles
Lying on the ground in heaps of death.
A canopy of bristling trees whispers
Through the cluster by the highway
Reminding us of when forests
Covered the hillsides, providing shelter
For the wolf and many birds.
Fearing the woods, we cut them.
They decreased in size
Until in modern day only protected
Remnants remain. Once in the shade
Of the jungle we sense the traces
Of our primeval selves and some sacred
Part of us longs to be one with the earth again.
Ages 65 and older
First Place
Tennessee River Run
Millie Ungren, Pickwick EC
A silver thread
Cutting a pathway
North
She rushes on
In and out of cities
Savannah, Clifton, Parsons
Scouring banks and sandbars
Scattering driftwood
Like brown bones
Twisting like a viper
Under bridges, over dams
Where fish are resting
Tall trees align themselves
Leaning over
Dropping their seeds
To be carried down stream
Making future forest
Men in swift boats
Ride her currents
Flinging lines or sinking nets
Harvesting her bounty
She is generous
With eddies and whitecaps
She is beautiful
Fog draped mornings
Men distant shores blend into mist
Where the deer drink
She is necessary
Run river run
Second Place
Tennessee Falls
James Ganus, Meriwether Lewis EC
Seasons turn on quiet things
that whisper their goodbyes.
The summer’s song has simmered long
but nothing green can stay.
Northern breezes, traveling South,
splash gold along the way
as strolling hills embrace the chill
of the dewy dawning day.
The winding rivers and crawling creeks
continue on their way
through foggy mountains, with sugared peaks,
where Cherokee hunted, played and prayed.
This sacred land, beyond life’s span
in song and season say,
from Rocky Top to Memphis blues,
“Don’t let it slip away.”
Third Place
At Savage Gulf State Natural Area
Ronnie Harris, Sequachie Valley EC
An emerald realm of
mountains extend
a bow around the
rock ledge where I
stand: and the clouds,
like white porcelain,
wreathe the molten
wealth of yellow
light emitted by the sun.
I feel I could
rightfully join now
this community of trees, and
rocks, and songbirds.
Claim it rightfully now
once and for all.
