The Beverly Public Library offers an annual poetry contest for middle and high school students who live, or attend school, in Beverly.
Congratulations to this year’s finalists! Their poems are published in a booklet that is distributed at the ceremony, as well as kept in the library’s permanent collection.
Middle School Division
Violet Acheson for “And I Think About Summer” (Waring School)
Ella Barker for “Fur Elise” (Waring School)
Aine Bartok for “Honest Poem” (Glen Urquhart School)
Johan Carlson-Leir for “The man laying on the wall” (Waring School)
Hope Dobkowski for “ A Life Like the Ocean” (Beverly Middle School)
Lily Filloon for “The eraser” (Beverly Middle School)
Samuel Hammar for “Our Generations” (Glen Urquhart School)
Norah Hart for “On Stage” (Beverly Middle School)
Anonymous for “I Am, Now, I Don’t” (Glen Urquhart School)
Meara Reeder for “Women’s Fight” (Glen Urquhart School)
Zoe Schwartz for “Siblings” (Saints Academy)
Zoe Schwartz for “The Adopt-A-Nerd Project” (Saints Academy)
Miya Tsuji for “The Travel Radio” (Waring School)
High School Division
Ruo Xian for “Pantoum on Pantun” (Waring School)
Leanna Dang for “Red Spider Lily” (Beverly High School)
Juliette Hale for “I’m blown away by your underlying presence” (Waring School)
Sorelle I. for “Tia Maria Estrada’s Empanadas” (Waring School)
Francisco Jarrin for “The Beauty of Change” (Beverly High School)
Addison Park for “Nap Away The Sorrows” (Waring School)
Abigail Peabody for “Fly” (Waring School)
Lola Prendergast for “PLOWING POEM” (Waring School)
Isabella Scherbarth for “Going Home” (Waring School)
Yishine Shi for “I once was a child” (Waring School)
Katherine Steinmetz for “Someday I’ll see your lipstick” (Waring School)
Anonymous for “Stupid, Ugly, Dumb (at least, next to him)” (Beverly High School)
Evonny Wleh for “Growth of the girl” (Beverly High School)
Finalists will be invited to read their poems and winners will be announced at the Teen Poetry Reading and Awards Ceremony Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Cash prizes will be awarded in two age categories, grades 6-8 and grades 9-12. All finalists receive cash prizes, in varying levels based on their placement of Honorable Mention, Third, Second, and First Prize.
For more information, contact Katie Nelson at 978-921-6062.
Thanks to the Friends of the Beverly Public Library and Joan Nelson whose generosity makes this contest possible.