It is our honor once again to celebrate the best young poets of Polk County.
PCPS hosted the 50th annual Poetry Awards last month at Florida Southern College, recognizing more than 250 students from local public, private and charter schools. Each student became a published poet, with their work appearing in the 2026 Polk County Schools Poetry Anthology.
Rochelle School of the Arts student Isabel Kramer was the overall winner at the middle school level, receiving the Mary Mayberry Award for her poem “The Tour Guide’s Lie.” George Jenkins High’s Isaiah Elias won at the high school level, receiving the Robert J. Fisher Award for his poem “Limits to Muddy Repetition.”
The Poetry Awards are sponsored by PCPS’ Secondary Literacy department. Congratulations to this year’s other first-place winners:
- Hadley Faulkner, Rochelle School of the Arts (sixth grade)
- Anyeli Ramirez-Lomitas, Blake Academy (seventh grade)
- Alexandra Peterson, Lawton Chiles Middle academy (eighth grade)
- Narenkarthik Ssraman, IB Bartow (ninth grade)
- Olivia Bisesi, Winter Haven High Cambridge (10th grade)
- Tejwant Chauhan, George Jenkins High (11th grade)
- Celina Madhavath, Winter Haven High Cambridge (12th grade)