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Five Oswego students among those honored in statewide youth poetry contest · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Five Oswego students, among those honored in statewide Youth Poetry contests, Written
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  by Eric Shelkov. This article is being read by an automated voice,
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  brought to you by Everlett. Five young writers from Oswego have been
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  recognized in the 2026 Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Awards. The awards were
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  presented as part of Illinois Humanities annual statewide competition honoring poets in
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  grade K twelve. Those honored included Aisha Hashmi, seventh grade
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  winner for Desi Girl in American World. Holiday Bolden. Seventh grade honorable
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  mentions for Owed to Garbage. Vaishnavi Manchala, ninth grade honorable mention for
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  say it again. Leonidas Lee, eleventh grade honorable mention for footnotes. Ainsley
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  Louse, twelfth grade winner for the flip of a coin. Them, were
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  among 39 poets receiving awards or honorable mentions from a record 1063
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  submissions representing 186 schools throughout Illinois. One of the most meaningful
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  parts of these awards is hearing directly from young people about the
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  experiences, ideas, and questions that matter to them, said Margie Lafreniere, Program
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  Manager of Teaching and Learning at Illinois Humanities, in a news release.
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  Their poems are thoughtful, imaginative, and deeply personal, and they remind us
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  why creating opportunities for young writers to be heard is so important.
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  We are proud to celebrate this year's poets.
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  And continue Gwendolyn Brooks extraordinary legacy of encouraging young voices across Illinois,
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  Lafreniere said. Brooks established the Youth Poetry Awards in 1969 while serving
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  as Illinois Poet Laureate. A lifelong Chicago resident, she is one of
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  the most influential and widely read 20th-century American poets. The statewide nonprofit
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  group Illinois Humanities revived the awards in 2017, continuing her tradition of
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  encouraging and celebrating young Illinois writers. The students will be honored from
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  1 to 3 p.m. September 19 S at the Reva and David
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  Logan Center for the Arts in Chicago. To learn more about the
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  awards and the 2026 winners, go to illhumanities.org slash event slash two
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  zero two six dash poetry dash ceremony.