Announcing the 2025 Teen Writing Contest & Ned Vizzini Prize Winners

Yosenex

We received 970 submissions, and the Teen Writing Contest Committee is pleased to announce the following prizes, honors, and selections for the 2025 Teen Writing Contest & Ned Vizzini Teen Writing Prize. 

Poetry  

Middle School 

  • First Place: Russia is Not Russian by Sasha  Keehner
  • Second Place: I Held the Match by Dolce Tess
  • Honorable Mention: My Only Love Pizza by Javon Findlay
  • Honorable Mention: The Wild Tulip by Angria Utnasunova
  • Honorable Mention:  The Beautiful Truth by Sophia Smith

 

High School 

  • First Place: Plot by Michelle Lee
  • Second Place: Slicing Apples by Rou Chen
  • Honorable Mention: White Fridge by Eric Gao
  • Honorable Mention: Siphonophorae by Charlie Moennig-Ogle
  • Honorable Mention: Patellofemoral Pew Syndrome by Honora Muratori

Prose 

Middle School 

  • First Place: The Cracks that Bind Us by Olivia Lenner
  • Second Place: Voyager 22: A Broken Transmission by Wilson Li
  • Honorable Mention: Between Two Worlds by Hadil Idris
  • Honorable Mention: Spots by Emily Lei Du
  • Honorable Mention: Hephaestus' Gift by Giada Minervini

High School 

  • First Place: Girlhood by Dahlia Clark-Gercke
  • Second Place: The Boy and The Dragon by Jasper Wang-Habib
  • Honorable Mention: In a Cramped Room by Louisiana Hanlon
  • Honorable Mention: How to be Exceptional by Rufaro Mwandiambira
  • Honorable Mention: On Becoming an Android by Oli Pape

The following additional selections from our finalists will also be published in our Teen Writing Journal: 

Poetry 

Middle School  

  • Child of Autumn by Gretta Adams
  • Zeus by Alexander Silverstein
  • Forever Remains a Loner Rock by Tansy Wu
  • The Thing No One Names by Gia Occean
  • Five Friends by Skylar Schray

High School  

  • Viscera by Al Leung
  • Letters to Dang'wo'lang by Tony Chen
  • Threads of Tradition by Ryan Moy
  • First Period by Ben Drucker
  • Reverse Ode for City Girls by Adelaide Sendlenski

Prose  

Middle School

  • My Mom's Girlfriend from Hell by Ike Anolik
  • Why by Dani Clarke
  • Christmas Before the End by Mingxuan Zhang

High School  

  • Matrimony by Joanne Hwang   
  • Uncertain Waters by Olive Spence

Congrats to our winners and many thanks to our staff readers and judges. Please join us for the 2025 Teen Writing Contest & Ned Vizzini Teen Writing Prize Celebration on Monday, June 9, 6:00pm-8:30pm. 

 

This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.

 



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