Congratulations to the 2021 Young Minds Dreaming Poetry Contest Winners!

The Young Minds Dreaming poetry contest debuted in 2017 as a companion celebration of poetry to the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture sponsored by the Association for Library Services to Children and awarded to the South Carolina State Library.

Since that inaugural year, the State Library has hosted this contest and celebrated the winners with such award-winning poets and writers as Jacqueline Woodson, Kwame Alexander, and Juan Felipe Herrera. We completed the contest in 2020 but unable to recognize the winners in a celebration with Pat Mora, our planned guest. Luckily, Pat was willing to join us for a dual year celebration!

We are proud to announce the 2021 Young Minds Dreaming winners who shared with us their poems about inspiration and being inspired!

Grades 9-12

1st  Cam Srivastava, Spartanburg Day School

2nd Roshni Nandwani, Socastee High School

3rd Emily Ledford, Spartanburg Day School

Grades 6-8

1st Alivia Church, Cross Schools

2nd Kinsley Everett, Green Charter School of Spartanburg

3rd Addison Merrell, Gilbert Middle School

Grades 3-5

1st Blake Maynard, Belton Elementary School

2nd (Tie) Collette Johnson, Buist Academy and Savannah Bryan, Buist Academy

3rd Riley Phan, Hammond School

We look forward to welcoming Pat in the late Fall in a celebration of the 2020 and 2021 winning poems and poets!

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.