Venice’s Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center has launched the Amanda Gorman Future Voices Poetry Prize, a contest and scholarship for youth poets-of-color located in California. The Future Voices Poetry Prize is named for Amanda Gorman, the youngest presidential inaugural poet in American history and a Beyond Baroque alumna.
As a teenager, Amanda began her development as a poet as a participant in the Beyond Baroque Student Poets’ Program, and later credited Beyond Baroque as the place “where a young poet found the love of her life.” In order to further her legacy and support student poets of color in their development, Beyond Baroque has established the Amanda Gorman Future Voices Poetry Prize, which will provide a total of $10,000 in scholarship and prize money in its first year.
Students can apply for one of two tracks. The scholarship award is open to college-bound student poets of color currently enrolled in the 12th grade in a California High School. Three poets will be awarded $3,000 each in scholarship money. Scholarships will be awarded based on the quality of the poems submitted, and on the ways in which applicants’ essays and materials speak to Amanda’s commitment to social change through poetry.
The poetry contest track is open to student poets of color currently enrolled in 9th, 10th, or 11th grade in a California High School. First, second, and third place awards will be given, as will an honorable mention. Each comes with a cash prize. Winners of the poetry contest track will be selected based on the quality of the poems submitted.
DEADLINE: May 1, 2022
PRIZES GIVEN:
- SCHOLARSHIP AWARD: Open to college-bound poets of color who are currently in the 12th grade. Must be able to provide proof of acceptance to a college or university, and must intend to enroll in Fall 2022. (Students accepted to community colleges are eligible to apply). Must currently live in California. Three scholarship winners will receive $3,000 each APPLY FOR THE SCHOLARSHIP AWARD
- POETRY CONTEST: Open to poets of color who are currently in the 9th, 10th, or 11th grade. Must currently live in California. Winners of the Poetry Contest will receive the following cash prizes: 1st place: $500, 2nd place: $250 3rd place: $150, Honorable mention $50. APPLY FOR THE POETRY CONTEST
APPLICATION GUIDELINES FOR ALL TRACKS
- All applications must be submitted by the May 1, 2022 deadline.
- Poems must be submitted as Word document attachment, 12 point font, Times New Roman or Arial.
- Entrants may submit between 1-3 poems, 1 page per poem and poems must be 35 lines or less.
- All entries must be in English, single-spaced, typed, unpublished, original, and not scheduled for publication before July 2022.
- All poems are presented anonymously to the judges.
- There is no entry fee.
- All entries not in compliance with category specifications will be disqualified.
Winning poems may be read and honored on Zoom or in-person at our annual award ceremony or a separate youth poetry award ceremony (depending upon Covid conditions and state law at the time).
1st, 2nd and 3rd place poems will be published on the Beyond Baroque website and/or a youth poetry journal. All winning poets will receive a certificate and cash prize, according to amounts specific to their categories.
Winners will be announced by July 1, 2022
