2026 Earth Day Poetry Winners List

Grade K

1st Place: Leopold Neils, Jackrabbit — Haiku
2nd Place (tied): Bentley Austad, Fire Ants
2nd Place (tied): Lauren Leonhardt, The Desert Is My Home
3rd Place (tied): Katherine Munsch, A Desert Treat
3rd Place (tied): Sofia Huerta, The Butterflies
HM: Goutham Oggu, My Beautiful Sonoran Desert
HM: Rozie Bristow, Bats
HM: Luke Weatherbie, I Saw…
HM: Sebastian Martin, Mountain Lions
HM: Loretta Quist, Desert Colors
HM: Gavin Koller, A Happy Gila Monster
HM: Silas Mobley, Cacti

Grade 1

1st Place: Alice Bauserman, The Cacti
2nd Place (tied): Quincy Valentine, Desert Sea Urchin
2nd Place (tied): Desmond Anderson-Briggs, untitled
3rd Place (tied): Emily Hamilton, The Desert Sunset
3rd Place (tied): Esteban Sarabria Olivas, Many Animals
HM: Milanya Rude, untitled
HM: Lucy Aquino, Desert Animals
HM: Rowan McMurray-Branscombe, The Dry Desert
HM: Mia Olivas, The Desrd
HM: Haleem Thompson, Rattlesnake

Grade 2

1st Place (tied): Arkadia Joganic, Sonoran Sunset
1st Place (tied): Eira Bugbee, Precious Pipevines
2nd Place (tied): Aubrey Mosier, The Sonoran Desert
2nd Place (tied): John Davis, The Packrat
2nd Place (tied): Ezra Williams, One Lone House
3rd Place (tied): Aurora Hyatt, Sunrise Chatter
3rd Place (tied): Genevieve Lollar, In The Sky
HM: Jo Andersson, Sea of Coutes
HM: Anna Tran, untitled
HM: Antoni Tran, The Desert Monsoons
HM: Roman Sams, The Wild

Grade 3

1st Place, Overall Winner: Ivy Luce, Sabino Canyon Dam
2nd Place (tied): Charlotte Ogletree, The Saguaro Blooms
2nd Place (tied): Nikola Lucero-Wegner, Creosote
2nd Place (tied): Jacob Bebber, The Peaceful Desert
3rd Place (tied): Rhys E. Snyder, Desert Watcher
3rd Place (tied): Ezra Roda, A Close Call
3rd Place (tied): Cobus Knight (?), Rattler
HM: RoseMarina Houser, The Coyote’s at Night
HM: Juno Hughes, Sunny Days
HM: Lucas Page, Wonders of the sonoran desert
HM: Oliver Arndt, The Unharmful Mountain Lion
HM: Cecilia Kelley, Prickly Fruit
HM: Rowan Mobley, Desert
HM: Viviana Ortiz, The Desert is Alive
HM: Emily Cole, Desert Animals
HM: Liam Figueroa, Raven Flies
HM: Noa Martin, Stars in the Sonoran Desert
HM: Maya Torres, Sonoran Desert
HM: Yerek Leor, Sonoran Desert
HM: Silvio Sapienza Mast, Senses in the desert
HM: Lyla Alderink, Life in the Desert

Grade 4

1st Place (tied), Overall Winner: Aurelia Neils, Sonoran Desert Relatives
1st Place (tied): Violet Hamm, The Roadrunner Haiku
2nd Place (tied): Alivia Duckworth, A Masterpiece
2nd Place (tied): Noah Lopez, Dust Storm
2nd Place (tied): Madeline Morano, My desert
2nd Place (tied): Scott Hendricks, The Heat and Air
3rd Place (tied): Abigail Hill, Home
3rd Place (tied): Miral Alnimri, Desert Song at Dusk
3rd Place (tied): Gilberto Cardenas, Haiku Poem - Pack Rats
HM: Cerulean Guruilian Sternberg, The Sonoran Desert
HM: Ivette Badillo, The Sonoran Desert’s Beauty
HM: Julian Guerrero, Just Trying to Live
HM: Xin-Yang Saoirse Chen; Past, Present, and Future
HM: Thomas Reding, untitled
HM: Leon Balderman, Desert Poem
HM: Joshua Covarrubias, The Mighty Saguaro
HM: Adrian Onpeng, Relaxing Night in the Desert
HM: Liliana Goolsby, Clever Coyotes
HM: TJ Port, Desert is a Home to Many
HM: Peter Childers, A Day in the Desert
HM: Anelyn Chacon, Haiku Poem — Wild Cats
HM: Amari Perez, Haiku Poem — Desert Rain
HM: Jovan Valenzuela, untitled
HM: Shaili Adhikari, untitled
HM: Oliver McLaren, The Amazing Sonoran Desert
HM: Bruin Isaac Tineo, The Lucky Snake

Grade 5

1st Place: Davi Munafo, The Cold Rain
2nd Place (tied): Klayton Maskey, Barrel Cactus
2nd Place (tied): Evangeline Lollar, Spines
2nd Place (tied): Minerva Hallmark, Pocket of Green
3rd Place: Asher Mobley, The Sonoran Sunset
HM: Zelda Rodriguez, Desert Lizards
HM: Phineus Yetman, The Desert Morning
HM: Aidan Soto, Cinquain Poem — Snakes
HM: Liam Ballesteros, Haiku Poem — Cacti
HM: David Gillespie, Desert Morning
HM: Ryan Hogeboom, Haiku Poem — Mountains
HM: Amia Cropper, The Song of the Desert

Grade 6

1st Place: Temperance LaBoa, Beauty in the Desert
2nd Place: Elijah Newkirk, The Mountains
3rd Place: Alexandra Kanipe, A Weather Of the Sonoran
HM: Olivia Handford, What I see
HM: Broderick Reblin, Walk in the sun
HM: Isaiah Cole, The Sonoran Desert