Programs for Students
2023 "Write Where You Are" Poetry Contest Winners

The National Writing Project at Kent State University (NWP-KSU) is dedicated to training teachers as writers and helping students find their voice in our ever-changing world. Poems about physical places that hold special meaning to the writers were accepted through March 1, 2023.
NWP-KSU would like to thank our Teacher-Consultants Amy Hirzel, Kate Walley, and Valerie Miller for making the Write Where You Are: K-12 Poetry Contest a success. A special thanks to Dr. Lori Wilfong and her students for their help. Thanks to Amy Hirzel for creating the contest, collecting the poems, and designing the poetry magazine. Finally, NWP-KSU would like to thank the students who wrote and submitted poems. Your words are an inspiration to us all.
Winning poems:
Grades K-2
First Place: Jude Wesley Hilbert for “Tennessee Travels”
Second Place: Avery Bohr for “Camelot Lanes”
Third Place: Grant Robert White for “My Tiny Closet”
Grades 3-5
First Place: Keilana Miller for “The South Haven Sunset”
Second Place: Sadie Lender for “My Swing on a Summer Day’
Third Place: Reagan White for “My Home Away from Home”
Grades 6-8
First Place: Callista Rountree for “Where Are You?”
Second Place: Aleksandra Rosenblum for “Grandpa’s Living Room”
Third Place: De’Andrea Miller for “In This World"
Grades 9-12
First Place: Eleanor Kristan for “An Endless Sea”
Second Place: Evan May for “The Field Behind My Home”
Third Place: Diego Coutino Granados for “Concrete Embrace”
Read the winning poetry entries in the 2023 Write Where You Are Poetry Magazine linked to the image above.
NWP-KSU would like to thank our Teacher-Consultants Amy Hirzel, Kate Walley, and Valerie Miller for making the Write Where You Are: K-12 Poetry Contest a success. A special thanks to Dr. Lori Wilfong and her students for their help. Thanks to Amy Hirzel for creating the contest, collecting the poems, and designing the poetry magazine. Finally, NWP-KSU would like to thank the students who wrote and submitted poems. Your words are an inspiration to us all.
Winning poems:
Grades K-2
First Place: Jude Wesley Hilbert for “Tennessee Travels”
Second Place: Avery Bohr for “Camelot Lanes”
Third Place: Grant Robert White for “My Tiny Closet”
Grades 3-5
First Place: Keilana Miller for “The South Haven Sunset”
Second Place: Sadie Lender for “My Swing on a Summer Day’
Third Place: Reagan White for “My Home Away from Home”
Grades 6-8
First Place: Callista Rountree for “Where Are You?”
Second Place: Aleksandra Rosenblum for “Grandpa’s Living Room”
Third Place: De’Andrea Miller for “In This World"
Grades 9-12
First Place: Eleanor Kristan for “An Endless Sea”
Second Place: Evan May for “The Field Behind My Home”
Third Place: Diego Coutino Granados for “Concrete Embrace”
Read the winning poetry entries in the 2023 Write Where You Are Poetry Magazine linked to the image above.
2022 "Write Where You Are" Poetry Contest Winners
For the 2022 Write Where You Are Poetry Contest, K-12 students across Ohio wrote original poems about physical places that hold special meaning to them. The poems were judged based on the writer’s ability to encapsulate, on one page, the emotional impact of one place.
Winning poems: Grades 3-5: Cole Minich for “Hole in One” Grades 6-8: Emma Chelbezan for "The Lake" Grades 9-12: Danica Banks for "Hospital" Read the winning poetry entries in the downloadable 2022 Write Where You Are Poetry Magazine linked to the image on the left. Thank you to all writers who submitted their work to this contest, and to our judges TCs Christiana Thompson and Jean Kanzinger. We appreciate every poem we had the honor to read! Thank you also to TC Amy Hirzel for managing the poetry contest. |
2021 "Write Where You Are" Poetry Contest Winners

For the 2021 Write Where You Are Poetry Contest, K-12 students across Ohio were asked to write original poems about physical places which hold special meaning to them. After receiving dozens of submissions, the poems were judged based on the writer’s ability to encapsulate the emotional impact of one place on one page.
Click on the image to the left to access the winning poetry in the 2021 Write Where You Are Poetry Magazine. In addition to print publication, 1st Place winners were honored with a special video reading of their poems from local authors. Thanks to all the writers who submitted their work to this contest. We appreciate every, single poem we had the honor to read!
Click on the image to the left to access the winning poetry in the 2021 Write Where You Are Poetry Magazine. In addition to print publication, 1st Place winners were honored with a special video reading of their poems from local authors. Thanks to all the writers who submitted their work to this contest. We appreciate every, single poem we had the honor to read!
K-2 1st Place Winner
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3-5 1st Place Winner
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