The Marin Poetry Center sponsors teen-related projects that celebrate the arts and through our High School Poetry Contest.

MPC’s contest provides students professional review, selection, and publishing via our High School Poetry Anthology. Also, students selected for the anthology are invited to read their work at our Gala Award Ceremony in the spring of 2020 and receive a free anthology copy. For many students, inclusion in our anthology is their first experience writing and/or publishing a poem.  In the process, students tap into a special part of themselves and learn the power of their unique voice. Thank you for supporting the MPC High School Poetry Contest.

A note from MPC High School Anthology Coordinators, Erin Rodini & Lauren Howard 

The Marin Poetry Center is thrilled to announce the winners and honorable mentions of the 2021 High School Anthology Contest! This year, we opened our contest to Bay Area counties beyond Marin. Despite the challenges of distanced learning and the general uncertainty of these times, we received over 800 poems from students at 9 High Schools. Semifinalists were selected by a panel of experienced poets and our final judge, Lake County Poet Laureate Georgina Marie Guardado, reviewed them anonymously.

All of our initial screeners commented on the outstanding quality of the poems this year, and Georgina wanted us to convey “how impressive all of the submissions for this contest were and how much talent, creativity, and craft these students have. I hope all of these students continue writing poetry. They have such moving, powerful, unique voices. I respect that the content ranged from racial injustice to climate change to love to memory and so much more.” Without further ado, here are Georgina’s selections:

WINNERS

1 ^st Place: Numbers – Odessa Goldberg, Tamalpais High School
2 ^nd Place: Communicating With My Body – Artemis Frederick, Tamalpais High School
3 ^rd  Place:  Yesterday’s Red Plaid Flannel –  Talia Harrison, Urban School

From Georgina: “Craft and individuality were key but also content and the risk of bold truth telling made me choose these three poems as the top contenders.”

HONORABLE MENTIONS

For My Daughter – Shaleez Razavi, Marin Academy
13 Reasons Why I’m Not A Bubbly Perfect Girl –  Hayley Ballard, San Domenico
Sunday – Violet Monchick, Marin School of the Arts 
Ode to a Box Filled with Smaller Boxes – Adi Jolish, Urban School
Where I Am From – Dorian Grillet, Tamalpais High School
Quilt – Bodhi Dunkel Wilker, Tamalpais High School

From Georgina: “All of these submissions included important stories and wonderful writing. It was an honor to read them.”

56 additional poems have been selected for inclusion in the anthology, which launched at our Awards Ceremony and Reading on May 25, 2021. Order your copy here.