Congratulations to the 2018 National Student Poets!
Each year, the National Student Poets Program awards $5,000 to a select number of high school sophomores and juniors, chosen from thousands, who exhibit exceptional verse. The annual award is the result of a partnership between the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers; since 2011, the initiative has recognized exceptional high school poets. This year's recipients are five students who represent five geographical regions of the nation: Alexandra Contreras-Montesano (Burlington, VT), Heather Laurel Jensen (Mesa, AZ), Darius Atefat-Peckham (Interlochen, MI), Ariana Smith (Las Vegas, NV), Daniel Blokh (Birmingham, AL). More, via the National Student Poets Program's press release:
The distinguished Student Poets will be appointed by IMLS Director Dr. Kathryn K. Matthew and Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden at a ceremony on Thursday, August 30, 2018 at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Other appointment events during the National Book Festival weekend include public readings of the National Student Poets’ work and a private conversation with 22nd U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith.
Throughout the year, the Poets will serve as literary ambassadors and will share their passion for poetry and literacy with their communities and at libraries and museums throughout their regions. This will be done through service projects, workshops, and public readings. In addition, each poet will receive a $5,000 academic award.
The National Student Poets Program is open to high school sophomores and juniors who submit work to, and receive a national medal from, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. This year, out of a pool of more than 23,000 works of poetry submitted to the Awards, 35 semi-finalists were invited to submit additional poetry and performance videos to distinguished jurors for final selection as National Student Poets.
All student submissions in consideration for the National Student Poets Program are judged by a jury of literary luminaries and leaders in education and the arts based on exceptional creativity, dedication to craft, and promise. This year’s panel of judges included:
Jennifer Benka, Poet and Executive Director of the Academy of American Poets
Cortney Lamar Charleston, Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Fellow and Cave Canem Fellow
Diana Goetsch, Award-winning poet and National Endowment of the Arts Fellow
Juan Felipe Herrera (21st US Poet Laureate)
Edward Hirsch, Poet and President of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Al Letson, Host of State of the Re:Union and poet
Adrian Matejka, Poet and winner of National Poetry Series and NAACP Image Award
January Gill O’Neil, Award-winning poet and Cave Canem Fellow
Alice Quinn, Executive Director, Poetry Society of America
Damian Woetzel, President of Juilliard and recipient of the Harvard Arts Medal
From the Associated Press:
“Throughout the year, the poets will serve as literary ambassadors and will share their passion for poetry and the literary arts with their communities and at libraries and museums throughout their regions,” the program’s coordinators announced Wednesday. “This will be done through service projects, workshops, and public readings.”
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden will help preside over an Aug. 30 ceremony with the poets at the Library of Congress. The students, chosen from thousands of applicants, also will meet privately with U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith.
“The National Student Poets are representatives of language at its best: seeking discovery, forging new modes of meaning, singing the particular music of this very moment,” Smith said in a statement. “They remind us how much poetry continues to matter, and how much we need what poetry fosters, which is care, belief, courage and empathy.”
Read more at the Associated Press. Congratulations to the winners!