Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Awards

Welcome

Welcome – and thank you for celebrating the power of poetry with Illinois Humanities. The Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Awards honor the legacy of Illinois’ own Gwendolyn Brooks: renowned poet, author, and the first Black Pulitzer Prize winner. Each and every one of the young poets who take part in this competition are a part of that legacy. Brooks summed up the contest best in a note in 1977: “All the children who entered the contest are winners… They worked hard. They created. And that is what is important.”

Thank you to all the young poets and writers for your submissions to the 7th Annual Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Awards! We received a record number of entries.

2023 Winners

Submit your poem

Poetry workshops

Resources for young poets

Past winners

The Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry awards are produced in partnership with Brooks Permissions and the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts.

Submit Your Poem

Submissions are closed. They will reopen in Fall 2023.

Submission guidelines and instructions:

The contest is open to young people currently in kindergarten through 12th grade across the state of Illinois. Participating young people can be affiliated with any school (public, private, home, etc.) or other institution.
Youth can only submit ONE poem and the poem must be written by only ONE author (sorry, we do not accept jointly or co-written poems for this contest).
All entries must be the original work of the young person submitting the poem.
Poems cannot exceed 25 lines for poems submitted by young people in grades K-5 and cannot exceed 50 lines for poems submitted by young people in grades 6-12. Poems containing visual elements are allowed, if all images/visuals are original to the poet.
Please only submit poems that were written during the current school year, since poems are judged based on grade level.
Poets can submit their poem on their own or the poem can be submitted by a parent, guardian, or teacher using this form.
When submitting a poem, please only enter your name on the entry form and do not include your name or identifying information on the poem itself, since the judging is anonymous.
Contest winners will be notified in early August.
Winning poets will be honored at an awards ceremony in late August or early September.

Prizes

Read our Submission FAQ

Can I submit on behalf of a youth poet?

Are you an educator for K-12 students? If yes, then you can submit poems on behalf of your students for consideration in the competition. Simply note on the online submission form when prompted that you’re a teacher or educator, and follow the steps outlined on the submission form.

How do I submit a large number of poems at once?

Educators may submit student poems in bulk, such as an entire class or afterschool program. To indicate this on the submission form, simply choose “yes” in the question about bulk uploading student work, then follow the directions at the bottom of the page. Poems must be uploaded as a single PDF or Word document and must:

Be prefaced with a cover sheet containing the student’s name, grade, age, gender, and preference about anonymity
Contain only one poem per page, per student
Include only the poem’s text and title on the page (no names or identifying information)

What’s the timeline for the Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Awards?

November 1: Submissions portal opens
First Friday in May: Submissions portal closes
May-July: Judging process takes place
Mid-July – Early August: Winners and honorable mentions are notified
Mid-August – Early September: Awards ceremony in Chicago

What’s the judging process for student work?

Illinois Humanities receives the poems anonymously, which we then send to our program partners at the Poetry Foundation. There, the poems are evaluated in three rounds by Illinois-based poets, members of the Poetry Foundation and Illinois Humanities staff, and Nora Brooks Blakely (Gwendolyn Brooks’s daughter). From these three rounds, we choose 1-2 winners and 1 honorable mention per grade, who are then notified in mid-July. All others will be notified of our decision by early August.

Are scanned copies of poems acceptable rather than typed copies?

Yes! Our younger poets often submit hand-drawn pictures with their poems, and we love to see them. Scans are always welcome.

Is there a paper submission form?

We recognize that not all students in Illinois have access to computers or the internet, and for those students we encourage them to mail their submission to Illinois Humanities. Paper submission forms are available upon request; please do not request or send a paper submission if your student has regular access to the internet.

Do you accept erasure poems or spoken word?

We unfortunately do not accept erasure poems or any other poetry based on the words of other writers, and we are very strict about plagiarism. We’re comfortable with spoken word-oriented poems, but the poem must be able to live comfortably on the page so that it can be read and evaluated by our judges.

Is it okay if poems include profanity?

On principle, we do not censor student work for this competition. We ask that you exercise judgment in submitting poems that include profanity or potentially triggering content, as most of our student audience is children below the age of 14. However, we value our youth poets’ voices and that sometimes may include controversial vocabulary choices.

What happens if I win?

Winning poets will be notified before August, 2023. Awardees and their families will receive prize packages including poetry books and a copy of a chapbook produced by Illinois Humanities that includes all of the winning poems. Awardees will also be invited to join us at the Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Awards Ceremony in Chicago in August, where poets will get to read their poems live. Poets who are unable to attend the ceremony live may also submit a video of their poetry reading to be played at the event.

SUBMIT A POEM

Poetry Workshops

Illinois Humanities has partnered with several organizations to host workshops for young K-12 poets to hone their craft and creativity. Sign up for our newsletter to hear about more upcoming events.

Stay tuned for our 2024 poetry workshops.

Resources for Young Poets

Below are resources for young poets and educators of young poets.

For Educators

Can I submit on behalf of a youth poet?

Are you an educator for K-12 students? If yes, then you can submit poems on behalf of your students for consideration in the competition. Simply note on the online submission form when prompted that you’re a teacher or educator, and follow the steps outlined on the submission form.

What’s the timeline for the Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Awards?

November 1: Submissions portal opens
First Friday in May: Submissions portal closes
May-July: Judging process takes place
Mid-July – Early August: Winners and honorable mentions are notified
Mid-August – Early September: Awards ceremony in Chicago

I need a copy of the last GBYPA chapbook with my student’s poem in it! How do I get a copy?

Feel free to contact us at poetry@ilhumanities.org for any additional copies of the chapbook.

I’m interested in teaching more poetry in my classroom. Where can I find resources?

Our community partners in Chicago have provided a wealth of resources on teaching poetry for K-12 students, including complete lesson plans, writing prompts, and copies of poems. For information, please visit our friends at:

Poetry Foundation: Learning prompts
Brooks Permissions: SEASONS: A Gwendolyn Brooks Experience (includes GB’s Young Poet’s Primer)
Chicago Poetry Center: School poetry programs
Young Chicago Authors: Resources for educators
Teaching Poetry Workshop for Grades K-5 with Leslie Reese (YouTube Video)
Teaching Poetry Workshop for Grades 6-12 with Timothy David Rey (YouTube Video)

For Young Poets

Interested other poetry opportunities for young writers? Check out:

Young Chicago Authors: Rooted & Radical Youth Poetry Festival (formerly known as Louder Than a Bomb)
StoryStudio Chicago: Online and in-person writing workshops for young writers
826CHI: Workshops, field trips, and an afterschool writing lab
Illinois State Board of Education: Annual conference (currently on hiatus) for young writers

Additional Resources

2023 Winners of the Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Awards

Congratulations to the 2023 Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Awards Winners!

Download the 2023 chapbook containing all of the poems listed below..

Kindergarten:

1st Grade:

2nd Grade:

3rd Grade:

4th Grade:

5th Grade:

6th Grade:

7th Grade:

8th Grade:

9th Grade:

10th Grade:

11th Grade:

12th Grade:

Past Winners of the Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Awards

Download the winning poems from previous years.

2023: Chapbook
2022: Chapbook
2021: Chapbook
2020: Winning Poems / Honorable Mention Poems

For a list of winners from previous years, please email us at poetry@ilhumanities.org.