Maui artist Davo presents eighth grade student Leigh Aguiran with her 2022 grand prize, a commemorative painting of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The ceremony took place with Contest Director Melinda Gohn (left) on May 24, 2022, at Maui Waena Intermediate School, where a certificate from Gov. David Ige was presented by Jamie Yap, the superintendent for the Baldwin-Kekaulike Complex area.

KIHEI — Valley Isle student Leigh Aguiran, an eighth- grader at Maui Waena Intermediate School, received the Maui County grand prize in the 23rd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Poetry Awards.

Aguiran’s poem was selected from a field of over 540 entries.

“We are delighted to receive work of this outstanding caliber from this young Maui poet,” said awards coordinator Melinda Gohn.

The annual competition, sponsored by the Maui-based International Peace Poem Project, is to honor Dr. King, the civil rights leader who promoted nonviolent means to achieve social justice and equality.

Aguiran received a commemorative painting of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. donated by internationally renowned artist Davo and a grand prize certificate from Governor David Ige.

Jamie Yap, Maui Complex Area Superintendent from the state Department of Education, presented the certificate.

Fourteen Maui County students participated as Golden Circle winners and received certificates from Ige.

Some 79 students received certificates as finalists from Maui Mayor Michael Victorino and a limited edition, commemorative poster featuring the double-hulled sailing canoe Hokule’a sailing on its worldwide voyage for peace.

Nyla Martinez, fifth grade student from Sacred Hearts School, was announced as the contest Grand Finalist, and Dazalyn Caba from Maui Waena Intermediate School was announced as the Dr. King Teacher of the Year. Both received certificates from Governor Ige.

The photograph of the Hokule’a was donated by photographer Naalehu Anthony, courtesy of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and Oiwi TV.

Gohn said Aguiran’s winning peace poem, “Peace Sign,” combines repetition, rhymed meter and imagery to compare disappointment and heartbreak with an island life of friends and family linking us to peace.

Aguiran’s poem begins: “The moon gleams brightly at night/while at day, the sun shines its light.

She continues, “everyone accepting diversity and each other, working towards a common goal/hand in hand towards the future, is something worth treasuring and is greater than gold.

Aguiran concludes, “Maybe one day a world without adversity will exist/it will take time, perhaps forever/yet we can try… to get closer to this dream, this dream of peace.”

The project, comprised of volunteers with no paid staff, was invited by the United Nations to participate in Millennium Peace Day at the United Nations in New York in 2000.

More information about the International Peacepoem Project may be obtained by accessing the project’s website at peacepoem.org.