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 Tess Dolce
- 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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