See the Winning Entries in the Localicious Art and Poetry Contest

14 students win top honors in this year's Localicious Art and Poetry Contest. View the entries right here!

A first grader and an eighth grader have won classroom parties with a celebrity local chef and will be prominently featured in an upcoming calendar of local foods. The lucky students— Katelyn Matsumoto, an eighth grader at Kapolei Middle School and Tyler Gouveia, a first grader at Hoʻokena Elementary School—are the top two winners of this year’s Localicious Art and Poetry contest.

Overall Winner for Art 

Katelyn’s winning entry, “‘Ahi Poke,” features two large ‘ahi and a mouth-watering bowl of poke garnished with seaweed and Maui onions.

Overall Winner for Poetry

In Tyler’s poem, “Menpachi,” the first-grader tells readers about how catching, preparing and eating the fish is a treasured family activity. 

In addition to the top winners, the contest awarded first-place and second-place winners.

First Place, Grades K-2

First Place, Grades 3-5

First Place, Grades 6-8 

Second Place, Grades K-2

Second Place, Grades 3-5

Second Place, Grades 6-8

The Hawaiʻi Agricultural Foundation hosted the Localicious Art and Poetry contest, presented by Hawaiʻi Gas, to help children appreciate local agriculture and think about the local foods they consume.

This year’s theme was “My Favorite Dish Made with a Locally Grown, Caught or Raised Product.” Nearly 200 entries were submitted by 31 public, private, public charter and home schools.

The contest is part of Localicious Hawai‘i, a statewide public awareness campaign throughout March to promote restaurants that use locally raised, grown or caught products. Proceeds from the campaign benefit HAF’s K-12 agriculture education programs through the purchase of a Localicious dish. Localicious has raised over $260,000 for ag education since the beginning of 2014. 

HAF served over 4,600 K-12 students at 104 public schools statewide during the 2018-2019 school year.