Kawahara’s winning poem, “Approaching Nounou Mountain,” was selected from nearly 100 entries statewide and will be published in volume 17 of HPU’s literary magazine, Hawai‘i Pacific Review, scheduled to be released this summer. Kawahara is a poet, writer, and artist. An advocate of fine and cultural arts, her book, Jackals’ Wedding, A Memoir of a Childhood in British India, is due from 1stBooks Library later this year.

“I found Dawn’s poem to be rich with image and feeling, yet it shows a brilliantly controlled use of language – all the elements of superior poetic achievement,” said judge Adele Ne Jame, assistant professor of English.

HPU also awarded an honorable mention award to Erin Starr of Makawao, Maui, for her poem “Storm in Makawao.” A graduate of Cornell University and the University of California, Starr is currently completing three books: No Revisions; The Tigress Diaries of Wisdom, Compassion & Pleasure; and Tribe: Growing the Soul of the Great American Child.