2026 Louine Schaufler Youth Poetry Contest Winners

South Dakota is SO lucky to have such talented young poets. One of our SDSPS missions is to foster the appreciation of reading & writing poetry among our state’s youth, and our annual contest is one of the ways we do this. Please join me in congratulating this year’s winners!

Middle School:

• 1st Place – Jaydon Scott (6th Grade, St. Francis Indian School), “We Ran Where”

• 2nd Place – Kenzlee Grace Bail (6th Grade, Harding County Middle School), “Home”

• 3rd Place – Annaliese Wenthe (8th Grade, Mickelson Middle School), “My Home’s Song”

High School:

• 1st Place – Kingston Colombe (12th Grade, St. Francis Indian School), “It Starts with Joy Within the Heart”

• 2nd Place – Charli Fickbohm (11th Grade, Lincoln High School), “Flood in Freeman, South Dakota, A.D.”

• 3rd Place – Carly Stephenson (10th Grade, Highmore-Harrold High School), “Roots in the Dakota Sky”