The judges have spoken!

The art submission (pictured above) from Brigita Sniokaityte, a 6th Grade Student at Switzerland Point Middle School, and the poetry submission from Taryn Lee, an 8th Grader at Fruit Cove Middle School, were selected as the first-place winners in the 2025 Day Without Violence Art and Poetry Calendar Contest.

Second place winners included Oliva Rieder, a 7th grader at R J Murray Middle School, for art, Fruit Cove Middle School 8th grader Christopher Aspromonti for poetry.

“We appreciate all of the St. Johns County Students who entered the contest, and the continued support of the project by the St. Johns County School District,” said Betty Griffin Center CEO Kelly Franklin. “Their involvement in this calendar project helps raise awareness of our prevention work throughout the county.”

St. Johns County School District Fine Arts Specialist Joanne Crowder, local artist Riette Gouws and author Kristin Paul, who serves as the Strategic and Operations Administrator for the St. Joseph Neighborhood Center, judged all the art and poetry submissions.

Those receiving honorable mention include:

Art

Yiwen Chen                                              Valley Ridge Academy                           8th Grade

Gabriella Moura                                        Freedom Crossing Academy                 7th Grade

Margaret Staffey                                       Freedom Crossing Academy                 7th Grade

Avahlea Rapp                                           Freedom Crossing Academy                 7th Grade

Kylie Coarsey                                            Beachside High School                         9th Grade

Juliette Phillips                                          Valley Ridge Academy                           3rd Grade

Dhruthisri  Muthyala                                  Fruit Cove Middle School                       8th Grade

Kayleigh Battista                                       Fruit Cove Middle School                       8th Grade

Meridith Butterfield                                    Beachside High School                          11th Grade

Mattie Boggs                                             Pine Island Academy                              8th Grade

Ayla Faris                                                  Freedom Crossing Academy                  8th Grade

 

Poetry

Lizhayla Hall                                               Pedro Menendez High School               9th Grade

Mudil Nair                                                   Fruit Cove Middle School                       6th Grade

Delaney Beringer                                       Tocoi Creek High School                        11th Grade

Brianna Rozema                                        Tocoi Creek High School                        10th Grade

Hannah Brown                                           Tocoi Creek High School                        9th Grade

Daria Hrachova                                          Fruit Cove Middle School                       8th  Grade

Ricky Circelli                                              Ponte Vedra High School                       12th Grade

Daniel Rasner                                            Fruit Cove Middle School                       6th Grade

Emma Soto                                                Hickory Creek Elementary                      4th Grade

Talia Samoeun                                           Tocoi Creek High School                        11th Grade


Contest winners will receive special recognition during a St. Johns County School Board Meeting and have their artwork displayed at the Crisp Ellert Art Museum throughout October during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, with 3,000 calendars distributed to classrooms throughout St. Johns County this fall.

The contest was open to all St. Johns County students in kindergarten through 12th grade, whether they attended public school, private school or were home-schooled. The number of entries vary each year, depending on the number of students that participate. First-place winners will receive $50, second-place winners receive $25 and all students receiving honorable mentions receive $10 each.