Kiersten Tarter, a sixth-grader at Nimitz Elementary School, is the Oahu grand-prize winner of the 11th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Poetry Contest.

Her poem was selected from more than 640 entries. She won an original oil portrait by J. Roybal donated by Sargent's Fine Art of Maui, a release said. The awards ceremony was held May 14 at the McCoy Pavilion in Honolulu.

“;We are delighted to receive work of this caliber from a student,”; said Melinda Gohn, coordinator of the International Peace Poem Project, a nongovernmental sponsor.

Kiersten's poem, “;Peace,”; begins: “;We want peace not war/is there fairness anymore?/Now the world is crashing down/feel the hate all around.”; It concludes with, “;It's not as hard as you think my friend/World peace is just around the bend/Join us now and you will see/someday peace will come naturally.”;

More than 100 student winners also were recognized with certificates of achievement from Mayor Mufi Hannemann and pictures of King.

The contest is to promote peace through writing and pays tribute to King, who used nonviolent means in the pursuit of civil rights for African-Americans and other minorities. He was assassinated in 1968. For more information, visit peacepoem.org.