High School Contests

Leonard L. Milberg ’53 High School Poetry Prize

The Leonard L. Milberg ’53 High School Poetry Prize recognizes outstanding work by student writers in the 11th grade in the U.S. or abroad. Contest judges are poets on the Princeton University creative writing faculty, which includes Marilyn Chin, Michael Dickman, Katie Farris, Ilya Kaminsky, Lynn Melnick, Paul Muldoon, Kathleen Ossip, Patricia Smith, and Susan Wheeler.

2023-24 Contest Details

The 2023-24 contest closed on November 26, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. (ET).

Contest winners will be announced on this page in April 2024. 

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Can submissions for the poetry contest be poems that are currently submitted to other contests?
Yes.

Can the poems also be poems that have won other contests?
Yes.

Can the poems be previously published?
Yes. If the poem(s) was published, please provide a reference for the date and media of publication.

How many poems can each student submit?
Applicants may submit up to 3 poems.

Will students receive a certificate of participation for submitting entries to the contest?
No, due to the volume of entries, only the prize winners and honorable mentions will be recognized in the contest.

How will I learn about the contest winners?
Only the prize-winning students and those who earned honorable mentions will be contacted directly in advance of the contest prize announcement. The names of contest winners will be published to this page in April 2024.

 

Receive Contest Updates

To receive email updates about submission deadlines for the contest each year, please subscribe to our contest email list.

 

A Note for High School Teachers

Thank you for your interest in the Leonard L. Milberg ’53 High School Poetry Prize. While we encourage the inclusion of poetry in the high school English curriculum, we ask you to please refrain from using the contest as an occasion to require all your students to submit a poem as a homework assignment. If you read the poems from the past student winners, you’ll see that they all carry a sense of urgency and necessity that is difficult to conjure when a student is obliged to submit a poem. Ideally, we hope motivated students will choose to enter the contest, and that they’ll come to see the writing and sharing of their poems as a joy rather than an obligation.

We’d also like to recommend the following poetry anthologies:

Poem-a-Day: 365 Poems for Every Occasion, edited by Tamar Brazis
20th Century Pleasures, edited by Robert Hass
The Best of the Best American Poetry, edited by Robert Pinsky

 


Contest Prizes

  • First Prize — $1,500
  • Second Prize — $750
  • Third Prize — $500

 


2023 Contest Winners

First Place

Vivian Huang
Irvine, California
“Femininity Test for the Rotting Daughters”

Second Place

Elliott Kate Cooper
Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
“A Letter to My Little Brother, Who Cries When Daddy Cuts His Hair”

Third Place

Sarah Li
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
“Ode to That Old H-Mart”

Honorable Mentions

Jenna Nesky
Pikesville, Maryland
“Turning Fifteen”

Mackenzie Duan
San Ramon, California
“Midwinter Orange”

Keyi Wang
Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
“math tests solzhenitsyn took before i did”
(in memory of Shanghai in April, 2022)

Read the winning poems from 2023

 


2022 Contest Winners

First Place

Saanvi Roy
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
“Narrabeen”

Second Place

Amy Wang
San Diego, California
“On this side of the highway”

Third Place

Fiona Lu
Foster City, California
“Turing Test”

Read the winning poems from 2022

Honorable Mentions

Marit Hickey, “2012 (before the lilacs were gone)”
Stillwater, Minnesota

Erin Kim, “Beautiful Country (미국)”
Andover, Massachusetts

Jessica Kim, “Broken Abecedarian for America”
La Cañada, California

Esperanza Littlefield, “Heritage”
Tokyo, Japan

Sophia Liu, “Elegy with Life Support”
Great Neck, New York

Avery London, “and what about our dead time”
Loomis, California

Lauren Mills, “out and about in NYC”
Sherrills Ford, North Carolina

Sarah Fathima Mohammed, “My Sister and I Come Home for Ramadan”
Los Gatos, California

Brendan Nurczyk, “Sonnet at the End of the World”
Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Aiko Offner, “I take a break from poetry to pluck my leg hairs”
Santa Monica, California

Janevra Pier, “Blonde”
Gananoque, Ontario, Canada

Natalie Rose, “The Bus”
Chevy Chase, Maryland

Isabelle Veenstra, “Teddy Roosevelt’s Sagamore Hill Home in Long Island”
Fountain Inn, South Carolina

Austina Xu, “Aftermath”
Cupertino, California

Hengzhi Yang, “Taiwan, The Wedding, Desert”
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Corina Yi, “Sunday in Busan”
Mililani, Hawaii

Gabrielle Yuan, “Hesitant Lovers”
Dublin, Ohio

Lajward Zahra, “Flies”
El Paso, Texas

Aaron Zhang, “Portrait of a Pearl Fisher”
Bellevue, Washington

 


2021 Contest Winners

First Place

Gaia Rajan, “Simple Machines”
Mason, Ohio

Second Place

Olivia Yang, “Etymology of Loss”
Charlotte, North Carolina

Third Place

Olajuwon Abdullah Adedokun, “Photosynthesis”
Lagos/Alimosho/Igando, Nigeria

Read the winning poems from 2021

Honorable Mentions

Nicholas Budny, “The Séance”
Princeton, New Jersey

Cole Corby, “Gammie”
Howell, Michigan

S.L. Franjola, “Love Poem for a Schoolboy”
New York, New York

Sierra Glassman, “Hum”
Watsonville, California

Emma Goss, “Simple Liberty”
Sherman Oaks, California

Emmalene Hardouin, “A little too melodramatic for my taste”
Grand Rapids, Michigan

Yong-Yu Huang, “Radium Girls”
Tanjung Bungah, Penang, Malaysia

Shreya Khullar, “The Hindi Word for Prayer”
Iowa City, Iowa

Anna LaCombe, “What We Never Saw”
Plainfield, Illinois

Allison Lowe, “The End of the World is Broadcast Live on Cable News”
Pleasant Hill, California

Oliver Moore, “i’m sleep”
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Goodman Murphy-Smith, “Open Window”
Indian Springs Village, Alabama

Logan Szymanski, “Fallen Timber”
Howell, Michigan

Yvanna Vien Tica, “Three Days Without Resurrection”
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Lucy Wang, “Humanity’s Light”
Oxford, Ohio

Katherine Wei, “Growing Pains”
Chandler, Arizona

Thisbe Wu, “The Roach In My Bed”
New York, New York

Isabella Zhou, “Sermon”
Naperville, Illinois

 


2020 Contest Winners

First Place

Hannah Wehrung, “When I Say I Wrote the Birds”
Yulee, Florida

Second Place

Lane Devers, “Hunter S. Thompson for Sheriff”
Interlochen, Michigan

Third Place (a tie)

Lucy Cai, “Sick”
Lexington, Massachusetts

Tyler Kellogg, “Hunting”
Greenville, South Carolina

Read the winning poems from 2020

Honorable Mentions

Jolin Chan, “The Three-Part Saga of Fran Li, 1982″
Irvine, California

Dylan Fritz, “American Politics as They Relate to Salamanders”
Greenville, South Carolina

Aniela Holtrop, “Arpilleras”
Freeport, Maine

Charlotte Hughes, “The Heartbeat Ban in Iowa Museums”
Columbia, South Carolina

Omari ‘Imipono Kenyatta, “moke akshen”
Waianae, Hawaii

Bianca Denise Layog, “User’s Guide to Hat Shopping”
Interlochen, Michigan

Olivia Lee, “o-to be-an isopod”
Arcadia, California

Maya Savin Miller, “i write my father in jail”
Pasadena, California

Maia Siegel, “When the Marbits Globbed Together”
Roanoke, Virginia

Yejin Suh, “To an Echo of a Language in Still Water”
Glen Rock, New Jersey

Diana Vink, “immortality and elizabeth”
Brewster, New York

Evelyn Zelmer, “Gentrify, Gently ”
Newark, Ohio

 


2019 Contest Winners

First Place

Lara Katz, “of arc”
Weston, CT

Second Place

Miracle Thornton, “praise dance”
Interlochen, MI

Third Place

Layla Wheelon, “Self Portrait as Kudzu”
Charleston, SC

Read the winning poems from 2019

Honorable Mentions

Reagan Boyle, “Water, Water”
Massillon, OH

Victoria Choe, “Pissing in the Breeze”
Livingston, NJ

Malia Chung, “Seven Ways of Looking at Seven”
Milton, MA

Lhamo Dixey, “The Cup of Roses”
Berkeley, CA

Kathryn Lacey, “Mother”
Arlington, VA

Esther Lee, “The Flower Garden”
Irvine, CA

Rachel Li, “Brooklyn”
Apex, NC

Ilan Magnani, “What I Know About Elephants”
Pittsburgh, PA

Veronica Moreau, “Breathing 101”
Wildwood, Alberta Canada

Lajadia Seawright, “Ohh Mahogany Mahogany Mahogany Ann”
Greenville, SC

Claire Shang, “Ears (Broken Ghazal)”
New York, NY

Magdalena Smith, “Underwater Among Minnows and Miracles and Dreams, or Was It Sexual Assault?”
Ithaca, NY

Cathleen Weng, “The devil / the gods”
Sioux Falls, SD

 


2018 Contest Winners

First Place

Daniel Blokh, “To My First Language”
Birmingham, AL

Second Place

Emily Tian, “Clean”
North Potomac, MD

Third Place

Bronwen Brenner, “The Sickest Daughter”
New York, NY

Read the winning poems from 2018

Honorable Mentions

Jennifer Boyd, “Directions to French Quarter, New Orleans”
Hull, MA

Bella Coles, “Tangible Comforts”
Oakland, CA

Adam Krasnoff, “Subaru Forester”
Charleston, SC

John-Henry Lambert, “To Brooks”
Greenville, SC

Sydney Little, “Unlocked”
Newport Beach, CA

Unnathy Nellutla, “పిల్లి కళ్ళు – Cat Eyes”
East Hanover, NJ

Sophie Paquette, “Amalgamate—”
Bloomington, IN

Hayley Steves, “Royalty”
Greenville, SC

Corinne Vicario, “A People of Order”
Greenville, SC

Albert Zhang, “Erasure”
Marietta, GA

 


2017 Contest Winners

First Place

Joseph Felkers, “Gunsafe”
Caledonia, MI

Second Place

Darius Christiansen, “Blueprint of the South”
New Orleans, LA

Third Place

Hadassah Amani, “Clutching Thistle”
Miami, FL

Read the winning poems from 2017

Honorable Mentions

Margot Armbruster, “Kerosene”
Elm Grove, WI

Jennifer Boyd, “Trapeze Song”
Hull, MA

Emma Crockford, “State Bird”
Middleboro, MA

Aidan Forster, “Bildungsroman with Distant Nation”
Taylors, SC

Jacqueline He, “Marilyn”
San Jose, CA

Christina Im, “Someday I’ll Come Back for Korea”
Portland, OR

Gina Kim, “suburbia”
Glenview, IL

Cristian Melendez, “Energetic Variance”
San Elizario, TX

Iggy Shuler, “Eating Panic Fish at Lake Marion”
Greenville, SC

Meredith Tamirian, “Love after a Breakup”
Allendale, NJ

Alisha Yi, “Afterword Theory”
Las Vegas, NV

Joyce Zhou, “The Way We Remained”
Naperville, IL

Abraham Zuraw, “Weird Sun”
Oak Park, IL

 


2016 Contest Winners

First Place

Hillel Rosenshine
New York, NY

Second Place

Emily Ling
Greenville, SC

Third Place

Katherine Liu
Lincolnshire, IL

Read the winning poems from 2016

Honorable Mentions

Annabelle Crowe, “Christ of the Abyss”
Asheville, NC

Kathryn Hargett, “A man pushes my classmate in front of an eighteen-wheeler then takes communion”
Birmingham, AL

Allison Huang, “In the Wake”
Princeton, NJ

Karissa Kang, “In Mother’s Absence”
Andover, MA

Suzan Kim, “Dear H.S. Expatriate,
Cresskill, NJ

Irene Vazquez, “The Three Things She Was Most Afraid Of—Until She Wasn’t”
Houston, TX

 


Past Contest Winners

Note: The Princeton University Poetry Contest for High School Students was formerly called the Leonard L. Milberg ’53 Secondary School Poetry Contest.

Read the 2015 winning poems
Read the 2014 winning poems

To request a disability-related accommodation to access archival PDFs of past winning poems, please email LewisCenter@princeton.edu.

 

Past winners who have gone on to become Princeton University students include:

Daisy Bassen ’98 — “Winning the prize made me aware of the Creative Writing program at Princeton and showed me how warm and encouraging it is to young poets.”

Caitlin Crounse ’99 — “It confirmed my most cherished, outlandish suspicion: that I might actually be a poet.”

Jon Queally ’00 — “Winning this prize meant that there was the possibility that I had something of value to say.”

Efe Balikcioglu ’10 — “Receiving the prize encouraged me to pursue improving my talent in every aspect here at Princeton.”

Kat Kulke ’17 — “Winning the prize gave me a new faith in myself as a writer and opened my eyes to the vibrant writing community at Princeton.”