St. Augustine, Fla. (Oct. 12, 2020) – Judges helped Betty Griffin Center go through hundreds of entries from students in the St. Johns County School District to select winners in the 2021 Day Without Violence Art and Poetry Contest.
“With the COVID-19 Pandemic, we decided to extend the contest to give students more time to take part, and we still received more than 500 entries in our contest this year,” said Betty Griffin Center CEO Joyce Mahr. “We had many wonderful entries, but our judges were still able to narrow the field down to select some exceptional student entries.”
The 2021 calendar winners include the following:
ART WINNERS
First Place – Ayushi Elhence – 10th Grade, Creekside High School
Second Place – Kelsey Zweibohmer – 12th Grade, Creekside High School
Creekside High School
Matthew Jeter – 10th Grade
Dylan Keen – 10th Grade
Elena Coles – 9th Grade
Michaela Phelps – 12th Grade
Ashley Cook – 12th Grade
Taylor Hawat – 10th Grade
Logan Cronin – 9th Grade
Patriot Oaks Academy
Lillian Gregory – 7th Grade
Samantha Antunez – 6th Grade
Mylah Nunez – 7th Grade
Switzerland Point Middle School
Kyla Hales – 8th Grade
POETRY WINNERS
First Place – Ben Ebner Winkler- 7th Grade, Home School
Second Place – AAbigail Macaluso – 10th Grade, Bartram Trail High School
Bartram Trail High School
Paige Harris – 10th Grade
Alyssa Herrera – 10th Grade
Katie Kelsey – 11th Grade
Siera Waldroup- 12th Grade
Amy Makhoul – 10th Grade
Lorelai Vedvick – 12th Grade
Laney Haggard – 12th Grade
Angelica Parisen – 11th Grade
Natalie Collins – 11th Grade
Julia Adamson – 12th Grade
The project 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 $100, second-place winners receive $50 and all students receiving honorable mentions receive $25 each.
This year, instead of having their artwork displayed at a local art gallery throughout the month of October during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, their work will be displayed on the Betty Griffin Center website at
The judges selected the winning entries based on their effectiveness in conveying a positive impression of peacefulness and cooperation, artistic merit, originality, diversity of images (race, gender, age, ability, etc.), and geographical diversity within St. Johns County.
All 13 winning artists and 12 poets will have their work reproduced in the Betty Griffin Center ‘A Day Without Violence 2021 Calendar.’ The agency prints more than 3,000 calendars for distribution throughout the county (funds permitting). Any businesses or other donors interested in sponsoring the printing of the calendar should contact the Betty Griffin Center at info@bettygriffincenter.org.
In addition to reaching students through the calendar contest, Betty Griffin Center also provides community/school presentations and education as part of its mission to raise awareness about domestic and sexual violence. Last year, the center provided more than 4,000 people with information and conducted more than 250 presentations.
For more information, email event coordinator Kenlie Kubart at kenliek@bettygriffincenter.org or call 904-808-8544, extension 207.