Introducing the 2023 Poetry Ourselves Winners
Last week, a new Poetry Out Loud champion was named live right here in Washington, D.C. (congratulations, Sreepadaarchana!), but that wasn’t the only award presented on national finals night.
Stella Wright, a senior at Robbinsdale Armstrong High School in Minnesota, won the 2023 Poetry Ourselves spoken word competition for her original poem, “The Season of Being.”
Natasha B. Connolly, a junior at Classical High School in Rhode Island, won in the written category for her original poem, “Birdfolk at the End of the World.”
Poetry Ourselves is an optional competition open to the state champions competing at the Poetry Out Loud National Finals. The students have the opportunity to showcase their creativity by submitting an original work of poetry in one of two categories: either a written poem or a video of a spoken poem, both of which were judged by poet Mahogany L. Browne this year.
Check out the winning poems below, as well as the poems of our two runners up – Catherine Wooten from South Carolina for spoken word and Irene Jiayi Zhong from Hawai'i for written poem!
Spoken Word Winner Stella Wright
Spoken Word Runner-Up Catherine Wooten
Written Poem Winner Natasha B. Connolly
"Birdfolk at the End of the World"
