Accepting applications February 1
〰️
Accepting applications February 1 〰️
Become the next Nebraska Youth Poet Laureate
Apply by February 28, 2025
The National Youth Poet Laureate (YPL) Competition, championed by Urban Word NYC, identifies influential youth poets with a history of artistic success, civic and community engagement, social justice initiatives, and leadership.
PROGRAM DETAILS
Apply to the 2025-2026 program
The 2025 Nebraska YPL will receive: $1,000—up to $2,000—towards a community engagement project of their design, year-long guidance from a creative and civic mentor, chapbook under the NWC Press, at least six public readings in Nebraska, and eligibility to participate in the regional and national YPL competitions.
Application instructions
ASL
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The Nebraska Writers Collective has named Youth Poets Laureate since 2021. These young people receive resources and opportunities to share their work and expand their impact within their community.
Welcoming youth poets of all backgrounds to apply
We seek applications from young people who demonstrate both artistic excellence in poetry, and a commitment to civic engagement and social justice, as exemplified through a resumé and brief essay.
We welcome poets of all creative dispositions, styles, and backgrounds to apply. We want the YPL program to reflect the diversity of voice and experience in our state.
Traditionally, Youth Poet Laureates are students who have participated in writing programs, achieved various levels of written and social justice success, and are embedded in the leadership of clubs, community and family groups, and organizations.
-
By “Literary Excellence,” we mean any written work that employs the tools of the poetic craft. Think music! Think image! Think metaphor and simile, too! This also includes traditional forms (sonnet, villanelle, ghazal, and so on), if that’s how the Youth Poet Laureate applicant chooses to express themselves. We anticipate their work will include passion, strong voice, and intentional use of themes. We want their stories concerning the heart, spirit, and mind. We want their ideas about politics, identity, family, history, and love in all its forms. We’re eager for their musings and reflections on any aspect of the human experience, often occurring at the intersection of any of the previously mentioned topics. Together, we hope their work will help us explore and deepen our common humanity.
-
By “Civic Engagement,” we mean any consistent commitment to strengthening and promoting the quality of life in the Youth Poet Laureate applicant’s community or school. They might frequently participate in local theater productions, provide financial support to their family through an after-school job, or collect litter in their neighborhood. By “Social Justice,” we mean examples in the Youth Poet Laureate applicant’s life that display a commitment to equity, inclusivity, activism, and the fundamental right of youth to be outspoken. This might look like political activism, classroom and club participation, volunteerism, as well as various educational and artistic initiatives, such as a public, performance arts showcase to destigmatize mental illness. The possibilities are nearly limitless!
MEET YOUR YOUTH POET LAUREATE
Miranda Davis
2024-2025
Miranda Davis (she/her) is Nebraska's 4th Youth Poet Laureate. She is originally from Bellevue, but has moved around the state throughout her life. She attends the University of Iowa, where she is pursuing her BA in English and Creative Writing. Miranda’s writing often comes from the heart and is derived from personal experiences; she also enjoys shining a light on the inequities and struggles of today’s world such as women’s rights and climate change. She writes to connect communities and bring people together through the power of words. Miranda’s work has appeared in multiple local anthologies and her slam poetry has received 1st place ranking across the Midwest. Her most recent accolades include being a recipient of the Norma Ross Walter Essay Scholarship through the Willa Cather Foundation and the Edward R. Baker Memorial Scholarship for the Literary Arts.
Previous Nebraska Youth Poets Laureate
Aliyah American Horse
2023-2024
“I strive to become a leader and advocate for Native American communities while helping fight the battle against addiction and mental health stigma through the power of words.”
Tanya Bachu
2022-2023
“I try to write in a way that everyone around me can understand and connect to.”
Mimi Yu
2021-2022
“I am a student determined to use my skills to enrich my community and represent Asian American creatives.”
Meet the 2025 judges
Laurie Yocom
-
Laurie Yocom is passionate about literacy, small-town Nebraska, all things French, and her family, with a streak of wicked humor to accompany her greying hair. She is a University of Nebraska-Lincoln alumna, having attained two degrees focused on education. For the past fifteen years, Laurie has been the director at the Wilson Public Library in Cozad, where she has hosted poetry programs with the likes of Julie S. Paschold, Theodora Ziolkowski, Dasha Kelly, Albuquerque Slam Poet Laureate Danny Solis, Cowboy Poets Yvonne Hollenbeck and R.P. Smith, and Nebraska State Poets Emeritus Twyla Hansen and Matt Mason. Currently on her bookshelf is Ted Kooser’s Cotton Candy: Poems Dipped Out of the Air and Mary Oliver’s Devotions.
Andrew Ek
-
Andrew Ek is a former teacher and co-founded what is now the All Writes Reserved program. He served as the NWC’s education director from 2009-2014. Andrew works as a principal software engineer and lives in Lincoln with his wife, daughter, and one remarkably adequate orange cat.
Tina Le
-
Tina Le (she/her) is a Vietnamese-American poet, educator, and lifelong Nebraskan. She has been involved with the Nebraska Writers Collective as an Intern, Teaching Artist, Core Teaching Artist, and Teacher Sponsor. She is pursuing a PhD in Composition and Rhetoric at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and teaches English at the high school and collegiate levels.
Eduardo Gardea
-
Eduardo was born in Texas but raised in Nebraska, which influences his work. He is a self-employed visual artist whose work ranges from painting on canvas, wood, glass, and public facing murals to installation/interactive art. Utilizing a contemporary art foundation, Gardea’s vision as an artist enables him to communicate modern and historic stories of both personal and societal struggles and victories.
Gardea intends to update the historical and modern-day portrayal of those who have been denied involvement in mainstream economic, political, cultural, and social activities. In 2019, Gardea self-published a poetry book, The Ocean and the Tides.
Asking what it means to bear witness to the untold stories of the underrepresented, Eduardo’s work raises immigrant, indigenous, and blue-collar people from their traditional confinement at the lower rungs and peripheral edge of society by highlighting their perseverance through cycles of oppression and failures of democracy.
Angelique Palmer
-
Angelique Palmer is a performance poet, Kindergarten Teacher, and Spoken Word instructor at Wilkes University Maslow Family Creative Writing Graduate Program. Currently ranked 19th among the top 96 poets in the world, she was the 5th ranked woman poet in the world in 2015.
After 10 self-published chapbooks, her first full length book, THE CHAMBERMAID’S STYLE GUIDE, debuted on Sargent Press in 2016. Her second book is the 2021 follow-up ALSO DARK on Etruscan Press. Honored to be a part of such anthologies as The Queer Cookies Poetry Cookbook, and Sign & Breath: Voice and the Literary Tradition, her publications include Drunk in A Midnight Choir, Wus Good?: A POC Magazine, Borderline, and The Mud Review.
The New Orleans native, and Florida State University Creative Writing graduate has called Virginia home since 2010 and Fairfax County home since 2017. She makes her own ice cream; shares kindness freely; and never hesitates to bond with anyone over the Golden Girls.
Nancy Gillis
-
Nancy S. Gillis is the former Executive Director of the John Neihardt State Historic Site, 1997 - 2019. She continues presenting to schools and civic groups on Neihardt’s work and a variety of related topics such as Native American history, cultures, literature, and education through Humanities Nebraska. She also served on faculty of Wayne State College, Northeast Community College, Nebraska Indian Community College, and Little Priest Tribal College from 1992 - 2019 teaching History, Cultural Anthropology, and Sociology, and honors courses on Neihardt’s life and work. In 2014 she received the Addison Sheldon award from the Nebraska State Historic Society, and in 2012 was commissioned an Admiral in the Great Navy of Nebraska, both honors for her “distinguished service to the history of Nebraska.”
Of Cherokee and Choctaw heritage, Gillis moved to Winnebago, Nebraska in 1987 to work with the Winnebago people for the Reformed Church in America and has served as their delegate to its Native American Council and its Commission on Race and Ethnicity. She stays active in various civic organizations, currently or previously serving on the boards and committees of the Dr. Susan LaFlesche Picotte Hospital Restoration, State of Nebraska Historical Preservation Office, The Nebraska State Poet Selection Committee, Nebraska Folk Life Network, Atlas of Winnebago, and the Walthill Village Planning Commission.
Aryn Huck
-
Aryn Huck (they/he) is a writer and community organizer working for LGBTQ+ equality. They enjoy writing and exploring themes of queer acceptance and power through supernatural, superhuman, and fantasy stories. In their day-to-day work, Aryn loves getting to help everyday advocates craft their personal narratives into stories that reach people from diverse (and not always accepting) backgrounds. They have published in some small publications, including "Crane Girl" (Laurus, 2018), and "Howls and Echoes" (Wolves.Gay, 2021).
Presenting sponsor
Presenting partner
Community partners
