Today, we are shouting from the rooftops in celebration of the 2015 Foyle Young Poets of the Year, announced today by The Poetry Society. The awards, which this year received 12,288 submissions (up from 7,603 last year!) from young poets aged 11-17 around the world, were judged by esteemed poets Liz Berry and Michael Symmons Roberts.
For the third year in a row, we are proud to share that ten Adroit mentees and staff readers have been recognized in the UK-based awards. Special congratulations goes to Spokane, Wash.’s Ben Read, who was named a 2015 Foyle Young Poet of the Year Overall Winner for his poem “Mario Kart: Brain Circuit,” which he worked on this summer as a poetry mentee with poetry editor Jackson Holbert, and which is now available to be read over at The Guardian. You can also check out our blog archives for an interview with Ben Read, conducted as part of our 2015 Meet the Mentees feature.
Further congratulations to poetry mentees Rebecca Alifimoff and Audrey Spensley, who worked with Founder & Editor-in-Chief Peter LaBerge and previous managing editor Alexa Derman, and were also recognized as Overall Winners in 2014.
Congratulations to all. Listed from left to right and top to bottom:
Winner – Ben Read – Washington, USA – Summer Mentee (Poetry)
Commended – Rebecca Alifimoff – Indiana, USA – Summer Mentee (Poetry)
Commended – Ava Goga – Nevada, USA – Summer Mentee (Poetry)
Commended – Alex Greenberg – New York, USA – Summer Mentee (Poetry)
Commended – Kathryn Hargett – Alabama, USA – Summer Mentee (Poetry)
Commended – Mia Nelson – Colorado, USA – Poetry Reader
Commended – Audrey Spensley – Ohio, USA – Summer Mentee (Prose)
Commended – Caroline Tsai – Indiana, USA – Summer Mentee (Poetry)
Commended – Lucy Wainger – New York, USA – Summer Mentee (Poetry)
Commended – Chelsy Jiayi Wu – Shanghai, CHN – Poetry Reader
Also commended were contributors Isla Anderson and Annalise Lozier. See the full list here.
