Decker Cavosie
I’m thrilled to announce the Bartholomew County Public Library’s first-ever Teen Poetry Contest We invite all students in grades seven through 12 who attend school or reside in Bartholomew County to submit up to three original, unpublished poems.
Winners will receive cash prizes and personalized feedback from poet and Poetry Editor for Indiana Review Samandar Ghaus. The library will also publish the selected poems on our website at mybcpl.org.
The submission period runs through April 25th. Submissions are judged by a team of teen volunteers, so entrants are writing for their peers.
A writing workshop related to the contest will be from 4 to 5 p.m. Monday at the library. For more submission instructions and contest guidelines, please visit mybcpl.org/teenpoetry or call the library’s Teen Desk at 812-379-1260.
Why does the public library believe that organizing a poetry contest for our local teen writers is worth the time, labor, and expenses? And what use is poetry to teenagers, anyway?
I have worked with dozens of talented and passionate teenage writers. With the responsibilities and challenges of adulthood a few short years away, as these students carve out a space for themselves in this large world, they are also crafting their own unique writing voices, turning their experiences and curiosities into poems and stories that only they can tell.
By collaborating on projects and sharing their original works, these teenagers are building a community of writers and artists. This contest aims to recognize and celebrate these writers, their works, and their communities.
This contest also encourages teenagers to try writing poetry for the first time. Poetry is a relatively easy venture to start. One only needs a paper, a writing utensil, and an idea for a few lines of verse—a modest investment to win some cash and recognition.
Against a social backdrop where some attention spans continue to shrink, possibly, to the length of a TikTok, and some reluctant readers continue to disidentify, perhaps, with many of the reading materials offered to them, poetry is a gateway to a lifelong love of reading.
My intent is not to reduce poetry’s value to its conveniences, but these conveniences do reduce some barriers that many would-be readers face. I vividly remember reading my favorite poem, “Feet” by Ross Gay, for the first time. Sitting in class at IU Bloomington, my friend Jon texted me a picture of this poem from Ross’ yet-to-be-released book Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude. It took a mere few minutes of reading on my phone (secretly, hidden from my teacher) to shake my soul and expand my conception of all the things a small poem can do.
Plus, this is a great time to get into poetry. Right in our backyard, in Bloomington, poets like Ross Gay and Adrian Matejka write incredible poems. And poets like Elizabeth Acevedo and Jason Reynolds continue to publish wonderful, best-selling works, highlighting a robust market for poetry geared toward young adults.
Visit the Bartholomew County Public Library to check out books by these poets, and so many more. And stay tuned for the announcement of contest winners next month.
