Young Writers Awards | Bennington College

2022-2023 Winners

Poetry

First Place, "Manhattanhenge / Scrapyard Blues / What moves the needle," Katie Hwang, Dalton School, New York, NY
Second Place, "Ghazal for Matrilineal Multiverse / Appetence of Vietnamese Daughter / Moonlight on the Ganges," Sunny Vuong, BASIS San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
Third Place, "parking lot supplications / Cassandra / (clementine) peel," Anaya Marei, homeschooled, Stockton, CA

Fiction

First Place, "A Story Woven From a Bucket of Milk," Enkhjin Gantumur, School 1 of Ulaanbaatar, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Second Place, “Untitled,” Caroline Anthony, The High School of the Performing and Visual Arts, Houston, TX
Third Place, "‘How have you been?’ ‘Unlike you,’" Shambhavi Sinha, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Collegiate Public School, Chandigarh, India

Nonfiction

First Place, "Diagnosis of Familial, Lateral Curvatures," Joanna Liu, Lexington High School, Lexington, MA
Second Place, "Cat in a Box," Kat Davis, South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville, SC
Third Place, "Riddled Realities," Emaan Abbasi, Lahore Grammar School, Lahore, Pakistan

About the Contest

Bennington College has a unique literary legacy, including twelve Pulitzer Prize winners, three U.S. poet laureates, four MacArthur Geniuses, countless New York Times bestsellers, and two of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people.

In celebration of this legacy, Bennington launched the Young Writers Awards to promote excellence in writing at the high school level. Our goal with this competition is to recognize outstanding writing achievement by high school students.

Each year, students in the 9th-12th grades are invited to enter in one of the following categories with the following submission:

Poetry: A group of three poems
Fiction: A short story (1,500 words or fewer) or one-act play (run no more than 30 minutes of playing time)
Nonfiction: A personal or academic essay (1,500 words or fewer)

A first, second, and third place winner is selected in each category.

We welcome submissions from both U.S. and international students.

Have questions about the contest? Email ywa@bennington.edu

Download a Young Writers Awards poster to print and hang in your classroom or school.

Awards & Rules

First-place winners in each category are awarded a prize of $1,000; second-place winners receive $500; third-place winners receive $250.

There is no entry fee
All entries must be original work reviewed, approved and sponsored by a high school teacher. We will use your sponsoring teacher as a contact for the competition should we have any questions. For homeschooled students, please contact a mentor to sponsor your writing.

Young Writers Award finalists and winners are also eligible for undergraduate scholarships at Bennington. YWA finalists who apply, are admitted, and enroll at Bennington will receive a $10,000 scholarship every year for four years, for a total of $40,000. YWA winners who apply, are admitted, and enroll at Bennington will receive a $15,000 scholarship every year for four years, for a total of $60,000.

The competition runs annually from September 1 to November 1.

Congratulations to our 2022-2023 winners!

More About Literature Studies at Bennington

Academics
Literature studies at Bennington are grounded in the idea that good writers are good readers. Each year, an exceptional group of Bennington undergraduates is chosen to participate in an MFA summer residency through the Undergraduate Writing Fellowship. At the graduate level, the MFA offered by the Bennington Writing Seminars is one of the best low-residency programs in the United States.

Off the Page & Outside the Classroom
Bennington College believes that a writer’s influence extends beyond the printed page. As the steward of the Robert Frost Stone House Museum, Bennington is committed to maintaining and growing Robert Frost’s literary legacy in Southern Vermont and beyond.

Throughout the year, Bennington College welcomes prominent writers and alumni to campus for readings during its Literature Evenings, Poetry at Bennington, and Writers Reading series.

Students at Bennington are invited to contribute to SILO, the student literary and arts magazine. Bennington Review, a national biannual literary journal based at the College, provides students an opportunity to help edit and produce a professional print literary magazine.

Bennington College Literature students go on to become novelists, poets, journalists, biographers, and more. Explore notable alumni.

Robert Frost Stone House Museum

Bennington Review

Literature Studies

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Past Winners

Each year, over 5,000 students submitted poetry, fiction, and nonfiction to the Young Writers Awards competition. We congratulate all entrants on their extraordinary submissions, and are pleased to share past winning entries.

2021-2022 Winners

read media release

Poetry

First Place, "How Did Li Bai Die? / How to Turn Into the River / Suns," Ran Zhao, King George V School, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Second Place, "Broken Abecedarian for America / Ghazal for K / Fish-bodied," Jessica Kim, La Canada High School, La Canada, CA
Third Place, "In Which My Mother Asks When the Hell I’m Getting Baptized / Etymology of Paternity / Bible Study Ghazal," Ashley Wang, Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville NJ

Fiction

First Place, "Observations made at the Lu Family Dinner Table, New Year's Eve, 2019," Sunshine Chen, Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA
Second Place, "A Language is a Story," Olga Musial, 33 Copernicus High School, Warszawa, Poland
Third Place, "I Leave the Six Blank" was written by Rachel Kenley Fry and attributed to another writer, who submitted the work. This never should have happened as the contest requires students to submit original work. We apologize to the writer for this wrongful attribution. Measures have been taken to guard against plagiarism in the future.

Nonfiction

First Place, "The—Lovely—Red—Skirt," Youjaye Daniels, South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenvile, SC
Second Place, "Somewhere in Southern Florida," Vivian Zhu, Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, IL
Third Place, "Family Portrait as a Gutted Fish," Danny Liu, Lake Highland Prep School, Orlando, FL

2020-2021 Winners

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Poetry

First Place, "When You Wish Upon a Star / [letter to durga] / Sightseeing," Aanika Eragam, Milton High School, Alpharetta, GA
Second Place, "a sudden nostalgia that i am meant to be somewhere else / The Bedroom / Etymology of Loss," Olivia Yang, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA
Third Place, "Girl Sonnet / Honey Ghazal / Shelter, Water, A Bite to Eat," Madelyn Dietz, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI

Fiction

First Place, "Somewhere Nearby Connecticut, There's a Clan of Vampires and a Woman He May Never Know," Alyssa Wilson, South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville, SC
Second Place, "Dinner of Three," Wes Davis, Henry Clay High School, Lexington, KY
Third Place, "Birthday Party," Katarina Ivkovic, Hunter College High School, New York, NY

Nonfiction

First Place, "Dissecting Matryoshka," Stefania Bielkina, The Dwight School, New York, NY
Second Place, "Skin Test," Indigo Mudbhary, Lick Wilmerding High School, San Francisco, CA
Third Place, "Gifted," Rebecca Orten, Middlebury Union High School, Middlebury, VT

2019-2020 Winners

read media release

2018-2019 Winners

Poetry

First Place: "made without hands / My daughter inherits my mouth and my fear of everything / Things Without Mouths: An Index," Sophie Paquette, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
Second Place: "Unneeded Insecurities / My Reason (Outro) / Arrival," Devon Reed-Rivera, Cumberland High School, Cumberland, VA
Third Place: "Type Girl / Uber Driver / Daughter Said," Karrington Garland, Franklin Academy High School, Wake Forest, NC

Fiction

First Place: "Haymarket," Cynthia Lu, Belmont High School, Belmont, MA
Second Place: "Moon Fever," Kali Puhnaty, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Idyllwild, CA
Third Place: "Hardest Hue to Hold, " Lillian Robles, Homeschooled, Glendale, CA

Nonfiction

First Place: "Sundown with Giraffes," Azpiri Iglesias, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
Second Place: "Becoming a Woman: A Checklist," Thalia King, Pittsburgh CAPA High School, Pittsburgh, PA
Third Place: "Transience," Jessica Yu, West Linn High School, West Linn, OR

2017-2018 Winners

Poetry

First Place: "Manhandling / i. lying ghazal / ii. lying ghazal," Julia Bohm, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
Second Place: "Sext to Absalom / Bildungsroman with Distant Nation / Field Notes on Rough Trade," Aidan Forster, SC Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville, SC
Third Place: "Art Tatum: Harmonium / Art Plays a Myth / The Panther Room," Darius Atefat-Peckham, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI

Fiction

First Place: "The Seventh Secret," Lilly Hunt, Northpoint Christian School, Southaven, MS
Second Place: "The Cat You Named Remy," Zane Austill, SC Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville, SC

Nonfiction

First Place: "PEEL," Kelley Liu, Troy High School, Troy, MI
Second Place: "Ruth," Sophie Paquette, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
Third Place: "Bingo," Katherine Chou, Hamilton High School, Chandler, AZ

2016–2017 Winners

Poetry

First Place: "Necessary Roughness / Public Enemy No. 1 / Seoul is singing now," Christina Im, Sunset High School, Portland, OR
Second Place: "Anaerobic / Kintsugi / Lake-Effect Snow," Steven Chung, Monta Vista High School, Cupertino, CA

Fiction

First Place: "Souvenirs," Catherine Wang, Chinese International School, Hong Kong
Second Place: "House of God," Jacqueline He, The Harker School, San Jose, CA

Nonfiction

First Place: "Watermelon Seeds," Chaeyeon (Annika) Kim, Dwight Engelewood School, NJ
Second Place: "A Trip to Home Depot," Carlos Orozco, Sage Hill School, Newport Coast, CA

2015–2016 Winners

Poetry

First Place: "What Made Me / Night Fishing / Dilutions," Letitia Chan, Milton Academy, Milton, MA
Second Place: "Nanjing Road / Autumn / Glass Familia," Helli Fang, Walnut Hill School, Natick, MA

Fiction

First Place: "Reddi-Wip," Walker Caplan, The Lakeside School, Seattle, WA
Second Place: "Momma Drove Like a Man," Ella Zalon, Oakland School for the Arts, Oakland, CA

Nonfiction

First Place: "Of Perfumes," Addie Glickstein, East High School, Denver, CO
Second Place: "Hair," Luisa Healey, Hunter College High School, New York, NY

2014–2015 Winners

Poetry

First Place: "Ebola in Dallas / At Thurgood Marshall / When My Parents Go Out I Eat Breakfast For Dinner and Pee With the Door Open," Rachel Calnek-Sugin, Hunter College High School, New York, NY
Second Place: "Ling hoards fake eyelashes / Ling traces X's on her collarbone / Ling takes off her left hand wedding ring before she sleeps," Carissa Chen, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH

Fiction

Second Place: "Mansions," Sophia Gyarmathy, Northside College Preparatory High School, Chicago, IL

Nonfiction

First place: "Motherland," Jessica Li, Livingston High School, Livingston, NJ
Second Place: "Driving Lessons From My Brother," Maryam Ahmad, Emma Willard School, Troy, NY