EUREKA – A Eureka High School student and two Kankakee High School students were winners of a poetry contest for Illinois high school students sponsored by the Eureka College chapter of Sigma Tau Delta international English honor society.  

America Baer of Eureka High School received second place for her poem titled “A Wonderland of Sorts.” Placing first and third, respectively, were Kankakee students Zachary Austin for “Waterfall” and Claudia Toledo for “Untitled.”

The winners received scholarship funds to be applied towards tuition at Eureka College and cash prizes. Their poems will be published in ELM and Impressions literary magazines.

The poems were judged by Eureka College English professor Zeke Jarvis. Winners were announced at the annual Eureka Literary Festival held March 1 and 2.

Finalists were Roanoke-Benson High School student Nichole Daugherty; Metamora Township High School students Destiny Adkins and Baleigh Boyer; Farmington Central High School student Emily Dean; Dunlap High School students Lydia Anderson, Ayush Kumar, Josh Ginzel and Lillian Gaeto; and Kankakee High School students Marisa Rhea, Anna Pristach, Grace Bernard, Katy Brown, David Palmer, Matthew Sharp and Philip Kinnersley.