Youth Poet Laureate of MontCo PA
The Montgomery County Youth Poet Laureate Program is designed to award a young poet (14-18) the title of Youth Poet Laureate who is well versed in poetic expression, exemplifies a deep understanding of poetic language, exhibits uniqueness and newness, and shows appreciation for all art forms.
The MCYPL serves from April to March.
How does the competition work?
Each year MCYPL recruits a celebrity poet who adjudicates the submitted manuscripts. The submission window generally opens in October and closes at the end of March. the announcement of the winner is made by April 1.
The newly selected Youth Poet Laureate is honored with a certificate recognizing their efforts in earning the title, a $250 honorarium, an opportunity to compete for the Northeast Regional Youth Poet Laureate title, and various performance opportunities.
Who can compete?
Poets must be high school or home school students, residents of Montgomery County, and be 14 to 18 years old.
18 year olds who may be eligible for both poet laureate competitions may only submit for one. Submitting for both will cause disqualification.
The Responsibilities of the Youth Poet Laureate
The YPL will be responsible for the raising awareness of and promoting poetry in the Montgomery County community. They will be given the opportunity to serve as a leader and champion the MCPA youth poetry community through outreach to Montgomery county schools, school districts and libraries through services and events.
They will be called on to participate in community projects and events that promote poetry, literacy, arts education, and youth advocacy and must complete at least one community service project during their term. They will also be required to participate in at least 4 public functions.
Introducing the 2024 Montgomery County Youth Poet Laureate, Emi Maeda
MCPL is pleased to announce the award of 2024 Youth Poet Laureate to Emi Maeda, a junior at The Baldwin School.
She will be Montgomery County (PA)’s second Youth Poet Laureate and will serve until April 2025.
Celebrity judge, Michelle Taransky, and MCPL’s leadership team chose Emi on the basis of literary merit to honor her talent, ingenuity and vision. Her work has appeared in the NY Seikatsu Newspaper, The Rising Phoenix Review, The Kenyon Young Writer’s Anthology, and more, and she is the first-place winner of the Charlotte Miller Poetry Contest. In her free time, she publishes zines with her friends and walks her dog.
As Montgomery County’s YPL, she will champion the youth poetry community of Montgomery County going forward and work with the Montgomery County Youth Poet Laureate Director, Evan Wang, to promote political poetry and zines and voter engagement.
We are so proud to confer this honor upon Emi, a visionary community member with great values. We cannot wait to see what extraordinary things she accomplishes!
Evan Wang named 9th Northeast Regional Youth Poet Laureate of the United States
The National Youth Poet Laureate Program, a program of Urban Word NYC, named Evan Wang, a senior at the Upper Merion Area High School, the 9th Northeast Regional Youth Poet Laureate of the United States.