The fifth annual Aline B. Carter Poetry Contest for Young Poets recently awarded five San Antonio-area charter school students with monetary prizes to help with future educational expenses.

According to a news release, the students were honored in a May 6 event at the Maverick Carter House in memory of Aline B. Carter, poet laureate of Texas from 1947-1949. The contest’s theme was “The Flavors of San Antonio.”

BASIS San Antonio Shavano senior Sonny Vuong won Best Overall Poem and a $1,000 prize for her poem, “The Moonlight on the Ganges Riverwalk.”

The second and third prizes as well as Best Bilingual Poem were won by three students who study at the same school with the same teacher—Sara Ravell of IDEA South Flores, the release states.

Alejandra Ramirez, second prize winner, won $500 for her poem “Tortillas de Amor,” and Amira Guzman won $250 for her third place poem, “Hungry.” Cynthia Elam’s poem, “Early Morning,” was awarded Best Bilingual Poem.

Marley Doidge of KIPP University Preparatory High School won Best Free Verse Poem with her untitled work.

The judges were 2018-2020 San Antonio Poetry Laureate Octavio Quintanilla and Eddie Vega, a poet, spoken word artist, storyteller and educator.

Ravell used the contest as a classroom assignment, according to the release.

“We tied the theme to learning about identity, and the students asked for constant feedback,” she said in a statement. “They worked really hard, and I’m so proud of them. It’s amazing what they did.”

The winning poems are posted at www.maverickcarterhouse.org.