The Teen Poetry Contest is one of our favorite events every year. Renata and Anna, the teen librarians, have such fun reading all of the entries. We had over 300 this year and we're happy to post all the results. If you can't make it to the reception Wednesday May 3, at 7:00pm, check out all of the poems here and look for the audio recording coming soon. UPDATE: poems that were recited during the reception were recorded and can be listened to by clicking on their titles below!

Middle School Winning Poems   

1st Place: Christina Li, “First Date”            

2nd Place (Tie): Tyler Pelt, “Looking Downstream”            

2nd Place (Tie): Zoe Maver, “As Told By A Student With Adhd"    

3rd Place: Stephanie Yang, “Political Fever"          

Teens’ Choice Award: Evie O’Brien, “Lost Light”   
 

Middle School Honorable Mention Poems            

Jessica Andrews, “Stone Cold”    

Adi Briskin, “Anxious”    

Adi Briskin, “Tire Tracks"               

Isabel Chae, “Where I’m From”  

Aniah Curtis, “Bittersweet Bond”              

Yashvi Gosalia, “Into The Looking Glass” 

Emily Hamby, “Pointe Shoes”     

Emily Huang, “Don’t Protect Me”              

Rohini Josh, “Doorknobs”             

Ariel Kim, “Windows”     

Erin Li, “Autumn”             

Christina Li, “Violins = Violence” 

Kendall Mccullom, “After Youth”               

Kendall Mccullom, “Unfathomable Fire” 

Maggie Mcglynn, “Sunset”           

Chloe Mees, “Dreaming It”           

Chloe Mees, “Realizing It”            

Ivan Qin, “Satire And Sleep”        

Sam Racca, “Ode To The Eyebrow”           

Caroline Samoluk, “Colors”          

Danielle Silva, “All The Small Things”        

Chen-Chen Song, “The Belt”        

Chen-Chen Song, “The Old Man Of Time”              

Chen-Chen Song, “The Ship That Shouldn’t Have Sunk”   

Stephanie Yang, “Before”             
 

High School Winning Poems        

1st Place: Natalie Good, “The Earth Was Not Made For Motherhood”      

2nd Place: Olivia Hauser, “The Preferred Medicine”         

3rd Place: Charlotte Guterman, “Tragedies Of History And How To Write About Them”    

Teens’ Choice Award: Vinny Tetiva, “The Misunderstood Hood”  

High School Honorable Mention Poems 

Saadwi Balaji, “Fly Into The Crimson”       

Julia Beckwith, “Every Sunrise Is A Sunset, Somewhere” 

Julia Beckwith, “The Universe Is Expanding, According To My Astronomy Textbook”          

Emma Brown, “The Bringer Of War”         

David Frykenberg, “Circle Of Light”           

Natalie Good, “The King Of Shadows”     

Natalie Good, “A Study Of Spiders”          

Charlotte Guterman, “In The Event Of A Moon Disaster” 

Rory Haltmaier, “The Forest, A Sonnet”  

Rory Haltmaier, “Slipping Under”              

Roandy Herrera, “I Am From Mom”         

Emily Jackson, “The Way In”        

Elissa Lonie, “Drugs”       

Therese Pelletier, “The Refugee”              

Kaylee Sostre, “Growing Up, Lawtown”  

Winning poems from previous years' Teen Poetry Contests can be found here.