What are the Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo Native Hawaiian Writing and Arts Achievement Awards?

Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo (The Well-Filled Mind) Achievement Awards are open to students enrolled in at least one class at Leeward Community College, a campus of the University of Hawaiʻi. Held every spring semester, Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo is the only awards contest in the UH system that awards cash prizes for outstanding writing in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi as well as ʻōlelo haole. All award-winning writing, art, and video are published at Pūpū A ʻO ʻEwa.

Need a topic? Try our topic suggestions page. Ready to submit? Submit your work here. Have questions? Email us at pupu@hawaii.edu anytime.

Announcing the 2015 Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo Award Winners!

Hoʻomaikaʻi ana! Congratulations to these talented writers and artists from our very own Leeward Community College! These writing and art works will be published when we return in the Fall 2015:

Writing in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi

• Hiʻilei Manoi-Hyde, No Naʻawao ($100 cash prize)
• Van-Jon Matthew Kaleialohanoelani Paio, ʻO ʻOe Kuʻu Māmā ($100 cash prize)
  

Writing in ʻōlelo haole:

• Laʻakea Ai, Laʻakea (poetry) ($100 cash prize)
• Tracy Dixon, Kahoʻolawe 88 (poetry) ($100 cash prize)
• Alyssa Purcell, He Hawaiʻi Au (poetry) ($100 cash prize)
• Amanda Allison, Becoming Papa David (short story) (Honorable Mention, $50 cash prize)
• Shenandoah Greco, Pele Hawaiʻi (poetry) (Honorable Mention, $50 cash prize)
• Victor Kila, Makaʻala ʻO Nānākuli (poetry) (Honorable Mention, $50 cash prize)
• Erin Scheldt, The Demise of the Hawaiian Language (academic essay) (Honorable Mention, $50 cash prize)

Art/Multimedia:

• Sheila Arasato, Who Are You? (video) ($100 Amazon.com gift card)
• Kea Kekoa, We Are From Hawaiʻi (video) ($100 Amazon.com gift card)
• Iolakana Paguirigan, Ka Huaka’i (painting) ($100 Amazon.com gift card)
• Aika Makaula, Mauna Kea (video) (Honorable Mention, $50 cash prize)
• Neil Chan, Identity Theft (graphic illustration) (Honorable Mention, $50 cash prize)

Kūlia I Ka Nuʻu Judgesʻ Award for Most Outstanding:

• Sheila Arasato, Who are You? (video) ($100 cash prize)

Mahalo a nui loa to the Worldʻs Best Judges:

• ʻIokepa Badis, Language Arts – Hawaiian language
• Dave Manu Bird, Language Arts
• Eileen Cain, Language Arts
• Piʻikea Hardy-Kahaleoumi, Counseling, Hālau ʻIke
• Eiko Kosasa, Social Sciences
• Kuʻuipo Losch, Arts and Humanities – Hawaiian Studies
• Auliʻi Silva, Poʻo – Hālau ʻIke
• Kaleʻa Silva, Education – AAT

Many thanks to the generous donors of Pūpū A ʻO ʻEwaʻs UH Foundation Fund for providing the Kūlia I Ka Nuʻu, writing, and honorable mention prizes. Special thanks to Student Life @ Leeward Community College, led by the amazing Lexer Chou, for sponsoring art and multimedia prizes.

Mahalo a nui to all of you who submitted works this semester. Want to get involved? Pūpū A ʻO ʻEwa accepts submissions year round. And Leeward Community College students, youʻre invited to submit your original work to next yearʻs Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo Achievement Awards, deadline May 1, 2016.

Leeward Community College students!

You are invited to submit your Hawaiian-themed writing and arts to this yearʻs Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo Native Hawaiian Writing and Arts Achievement Awards.

Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo — which means the Well-Filled Mind — ends on May 1, 2015.

You can win one of our fabulous prizes, including $100 cash for writing in the Hawaiian language, $100 cash for writing in the English language, and $100 Amazon gift cards for art.

All winning pieces will be published at Pūpū A ʻO ʻEwa Native Hawaiian Writing and Arts website.

Submission requirements and details:

• You must currently enrolled in at least 1 course at Leeward Community College this Spring 2015.
  
• Open to every student regardless of ethnic or cultural ancestry.
• Your subject MUST be ke ano Hawaiʻi — a Hawaiian focus. Your writing or artwork MUST be related somehow to Native Hawaiian life: culture, customs, history, issues, literature land, nature, arts, religion, etc.
• You may enter more than one piece and in more than one category (Hawaiian writing, English writing, art)
• All submissions are due by 11:59 pm on May 1, 2015
• All entries must be submitted online either in our Submit Your Work link or emailed to pupu@hawaii.edu.
• Works will judged on their merits. None of our judges will know who submitted which piece.

Need a topic idea? Visit our list of writing and art suggestions

Have questions? Email us at pupu@hawaii.edu.

Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo is co-sponsored by Pūpū A ʻO ʻEwa and Student Life, the student government of Leeward Community College. Mahalo to our generous donors who make the awards possible. Credit: Poster by Tomi Rivera, Leeward CC

Starting this academic year, Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo will be awarded in the Spring semester.  It’s not too early to think about entering! You can win cash and prizes for your original Hawaiian-focused writing and art AND be published in Pūpū A ʻO ʻEwa.  Need some ideas?  Check out our topic suggestions.  Open to current Leeward students only. Deadline for Spring 2015 is April 30, 2015.  

Mahalo to our generous sponsors, including Student Life, the student government at Leeward CC.

Announcing the Spring 2014 Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo a Award Winners!

Congratulations to these talented writers and artists from our very own Leeward Community College! These works will be published when we return in the Fall:

Writing in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi

• Hiʻilei Manoi-Hyde, No Namaka Kailialoha laua o Alea Hoohihikeaumoe ($100 cash prize each, sponsored by Pūpū A ʻO ʻEwa)
• Van-Jon Matthew Kaleialohanoelani Paio, Maui Nō E Ka ʻOi ($100 cash prize each, sponsored by Pūpū A ʻO ʻEwa)
• Hiʻilei Manoi-Hyde, Luluku (Honorable Mention)
• Pōhai Medeiros, Kuʻu Mau Kupuna (Honorable Mention)
• Ikaika Anderson, Kuʻu Home (Honorable Mention)

Writing in ʻōlelo haole

• Elsie Moʻi Peters Itutaua, Nānākuli ($100 cash prize each, sponsored by Pūpū A ʻO ʻEwa)
• Stephanie Launiu, Surrounded by God (Honorable Mention)
• Sosefo Naufahu, Where Iʻm From (Honorable Mention)

Art

• Ikaika Anderson, E ʻAle E (photograph, $100 Amazon.com gift card, sponsored by Student Life, Leeward CC)
• Shawn Kahoʻolemana Naone, Activism is the Rent We Pay for Living on This Planet (photograph, $100 Amazon.com gift card, sponsored by Student Life, Leeward CC)
• Robin Puahala, Pin-A-Hawaiian (photo-collage, $100 Amazon.com gift card, sponsored by Student Life, Leeward CC)
• Shawn Kahoʻolemana Naone, Poliahu (photo, Honorable Mention)
• Ikaika Anderson, Aloha Nō (photo, Honorable Mention)
• Kekai Mar, StepHI (photo-collage, Honorable Mention)
• Chantelle Deuz, Hawaiʻiʻs Very Own Heaven (photo, Honorable Mention)

Mahalo nui loa to the Worldʻs Best Judges:

• ʻIokepa Badis, Language Arts (Hawaiian language)
• Dave Manu Bird, Language Arts
• Eileen Cain, Language Arts
• ʻEhukai Carvalho, Language Arts (Hawaiian language)
• Piʻikea Hardy-Kahaleoumi, Counseling (Hālau ʻIke)
• Eiko Kosasa, Social Sciences
• Kuʻuipo Losch, Arts and Humanities (Hawaiian Studies)
• Makanani Parker, Arts and Humanities (Hawaiian Studies)
• Auliʻi Silva, Hālau ʻIke

Special thanks to Student Life @ Leeward Community College, led by the amazing Lexer Chou, for co-sponsoring our contest!

Mahalo a nui to all of you who submitted works this semester. Want to get involved? Pūpū A ʻO ʻEwa accepts submissions year round. And Leeward students, please consider submitting your work to next Fallʻs Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo Achievement Awards, deadline November 20, 2014.

Announcing: Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo Native Hawaiian Writing and Arts Achievement Awards for Spring 2014!

Submission requirements:

• Leeward CC must be as your home campus
  
• Deadline is April 20, 2014
• Topic MUST be ke ano Hawaiʻi — a Hawaiian focus
• Need a topic idea? Visit our list of writing and art suggestions

Credits: Poster by Tomi Rivera, Leeward CC

Congratulations to this Fallʻs Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo Native Hawaiian Writing and Arts Achievement Awards winners! These works will be published next semester here at Pūpū A ʻO ʻEwa.

Hiʻilei Manoi-Hyde, Kahi Mea i Aloha ia

Alika Gorospe, Ka Wiliwai

Chris Oliveira, Kaʻaniniau

Kim Reed, Ke Kalaka Polū Nui

Elsie Peters Itutaua, Summers in Mākaha

Shawn Kahoʻolemana Naone, Wayfinders

For art achievement ($100 gift certificate from Fisher Hawaiʻi, sponsored by Leeward CC Student Life:)

Shawn Kahoʻolemana Naone, Hāloa (photograph)
Selena Makalapua Ryder, Makalapua (sculpture)
Mel Mossman, Moon Surfing (painting)

Presenting our past winners!