Congratulations to 2020 Young Minds Dreaming Poetry Contest Winners

In celebration of National Poetry Month, the South Carolina State Library is pleased to announce the nine winners in this year’s Young Minds Dreaming poetry contest. These outstanding students showed exceptional creativity in showcasing this year’s theme, “the joy of words.” Guest author Pat Mora charged students to share the pleasure of wordjoy, of discovering new words, of listening to words, and of hearing them rhyme. Their entries are prime examples of the immense talent that is on display in South Carolina schools.

2020 Winners

Group 1 (3rd-5th Grades)

  • First place: Anika Gupta, 5th grade, Hammond School, Columbia, SC
  • Second Place: Lily James, 5th grade, Hammond School, Columbia, SC
  • Third Place: Aubrey Novak, 3rd grade, Jesse Boyd Elementary, Spartanburg, SC

Group 2 (6th-8th Grades)

  • First place: Bethany Carlson, 8th grade, Cross Schools, Bluffton, SC
  • Second Place: Essence Gill-Sadler, 6th grade, GREEN Charter School of Spartanburg, Spartanburg, SC
  • Third Place: Keira Lewis, 8th grade, Cross Schools, Bluffton, SC

Group 3 (9th-12th Grades)

  • First place: Lucia Brown, 11th grade, South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics, Columbia, SC
  • Second Place: Alexander Winslow, 10th grade, Richland Northeast High School, Columbia, SC
  • Third Place: Carley Rosenberger, 10th grade, Dorman High School, Spartanburg, SC

Young Minds Dreaming is supported in part by the South Carolina State Library, the South Carolina State Library Foundation, and SCETV.

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Upcoming Event

Silver oyster shaped jewelrey on a wooden table.

Speaker at the Center: Silversmith Kaminer Haislip, "Charleston Silver, Past to Present"

August 7, 2025, 6:00 PM

Join us at the next installment of the Speaker at the Center series with Charleston silversmith Kaminer Haislip. Haislip's rice spoon was recently added to the Charleston Museum's collection and she has received a grant from SC Humanities to study silver techniques abroad. Kaminer will present a lecture titled Charleston Silver, Past to Present on the history of colonial Charleston silversmithing and how it relates to her contemporary silver designs.