Photography Contest
We asked that submitted photos “capture the beginnings of spring.”
Winner of the Age 12+ category:
Photo taken by Marleigh Blackwell, age 12
Winner of the Age 5+ category:
Photo taken by Matthew Clark, age 8
Congratulations Marleigh and Matthew! And here are the other fantastic photo entries we received:
Poetry Contest
We asked that poem entries be about a nature experience, local plants or animals in West Virginia, or a natural place of the poet’s choice. Poems of any style and length were welcome.
Winner of the Age 12+ category:
The Throne
by Felix Alexander, age 12
I came to sit between the reeds,
when I heard a sound beyond the breeze.
A flutter, a flitter, a buzz, a bee?
I crouched down closer to try and see.
There it was! A tiny sight!
A flash of color! A flicker of light!
Now I had a perfect view.
It opened its wings, stretched them, and flew.
It stayed aloft, and then it landed.
The weeds around it quickly disbanded.
I craned my neck, and with all my power,
I saw it sit upon a flower.
Then and there, it was known.
The monarch butterfly had found its throne.
Winner of the Age 5+ category:
The trees awake
by Oliver Faehl, age 7
In the cold winter the trees are asleep
With the first trickle of spring they wake
From the long, long winter
Their leaves are dancing
Pinks, greens, reds, and purples appear
Slowly and bursting into bloom
In the first small breeze of spring.
Congratulations Felix and Oliver! And here are the other wonderful poems we received:
What is it_…West Virginia! by Laura Edwards, Age 12
Spring Flowers by Taylor Faehl, Age 12
Mother Nature by Sera Hawley, Age 14
