Announcing the Winners of the 2023-2024 Young Writers Awards
Nine students from high schools around the country were selected as winners of Bennington College’s 2023-2024 Young Writers Awards.
This annual competition, which accepts entries in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, is free to enter and open to high school students. A first-, second-, and third-place winner is selected in each of the categories, with cash prizes up to $1,000 awarded.
Young Writers Award finalists and winners are also eligible for undergraduate scholarships at Bennington. Finalists who enroll at Bennington will receive a $10,000 scholarship every year for four years, for a total of $40,000. Winners who enroll at Bennington will receive a $15,000 scholarship every year for four years, for a total of $60,000.
The 2024-2025 Young Writers Awards will officially open beginning on September 1. Sign up to receive notifications about the competition.
Bennington College has a unique literary legacy, including twelve Pulitzer Prize winners, three U.S. poet laureates, four MacArthur Geniuses, countless New York Times bestselling authors, and two of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people.
Each year, over 6,800 students submit poetry, fiction, and nonfiction to the Young Writers Awards competition. Bennington College congratulates all entrants on their extraordinary submissions and is pleased to announce the 2023-2024 winning entries.
2023-2024 Young Writers Awards Winners
Poetry
- First Place, “for your own good / All Men are Bad / sugar pill”, Sophie Bernik, Traverse City, MI, Interlochen Arts Academy
- Second Place, “They grind up racehorses / When God wanted an off-white colonial in the suburbs / full-time jobs” Seoyon Kim, Greenwich, RI, Wheeler School
- Third Place, “Exam God Hands You While Dawdling Before the Pearly Gates / False Elegy / Homecoming,” Ava Chen, Wellesley, MA, Phillips Academy
Fiction
- First Place, “1000,” Kekoa Dowsett, Portland, OR, Jesuit High School
- Second Place, “Guide to Being a Girl When You’re Not One, Actually,” Faith Reasoner-Fellows, Castaic, CA, Castaic High School
- Third Place, “Holiness in a Downtown Apartment; A Bible Lesson,” Moriah Hogans, Dothan, AL, Dothan High School
Nonfiction
- First Place, “Death of the Pointe Shoe,” Addison (Addi) Moss, Pacific Palisades, CA, Stanford Online High School
- Second Place, “17 Hail Marys,” Venya Sharda, Fremont, CA, Washington High School
- Third Place, “Metamorphoses Caught in Transition,” Roark Petermann, Walden, NY, Valley Central High School