The community room at the Atherton Library was packed on November 9th for the award ceremony. Young poets, along with their friends and families, gathered eagerly awaiting the announcement of the winners. I opened the ceremony by expressing my gratitude to the Atherton Library for their support and to our judges for the time and care they devoted to reviewing the submissions.
Next, I hosted a fireside chat with two of our judges, Jackson Holbert (Stanford) and Kristin Hall (Kepler’s). This portion of the ceremony received wonderfully positive feedback. Participants enjoyed hearing about the judges’ career paths and how they discovered poetry. Coincidentally, Mr. Holbert began his poetry journey by writing a poem for a contest and continued writing after joining a community where everyone wrote. That story resonated deeply with me. One of my main motivations for organizing this contest was to build a community of young writers and poets who can inspire one another. This sense of community is especially meaningful in today’s increasingly isolated digital age.
We then announced the winners for each category, and award recipients were invited to read their poems aloud. Hearing the emotion and passion behind each piece was truly moving. It was also a wonderful opportunity for our elementary school winners to build confidence speaking in front of a full audience.
The enthusiastic feedback from this event reinforced my belief in the power of poetry to bring people together. It has encouraged me to continue this initiative — and I’ll be back to organize another event in early 2026! I look forward to sharing more about what inspired me to start this contest in my upcoming article, “Why I Started a Youth Poetry Contest.”
