Each year, our annual “Tell Me a Story” High School Contest invites teenagers from around the world to write a new story or poem that showcases their authentic voices and experiences—real or imagined. Through their writing, winners earn mentorship, cash prizes, and publication in Narrative alongside many of today’s great authors.
Here our guest judge for our 2020–2021 season, poet and winner of the 2017 Narrative Prize, Javier Zamora—whose journey to first publication started with his own high school poetry submissions to Narrative—introduces first- and second-place winners, Sarah Lao and Aman Rahman. In turn, Lao and Rahman share with us their inspirations and creative insights and read excerpts from their stellar poems—works that rose to the top of all the submissions from fellow young poets from 19 countries, 39 states in the US, and 174 cities and towns, each responding to the prompt “Escape.”
Of their work, Zamora says, “I don’t want to talk of promise in these winning poems because there is something else happening here; these poets are poets, they have arrived.” Listen and read for yourself.
We have exciting plans for this coming year’s contest. READ MORE HERE!
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