Bennington, VT: Nine students from high schools across the country were selected as winners of Bennington College’s 2018-2019 Young Writers Awards, including Devon Reed-Rivera of Cumberland High School, who won second place in poetry for "Unneeded Insecurities / My Reason (Outro) / Arrival.”
Bennington College has a unique literary legacy, including nine Pulitzer Prize winners, three U.S. poet laureates, four MacArthur Geniuses, countless New York Times bestsellers, and one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. In celebration of this legacy, Bennington launched the Young Writers Awards to promote and recognize excellence in writing by high-school students.
“It is our great pleasure to discover and empower emerging writers as part of a longstanding commitment to excellence in the written word,” said Interim President Isabel Roche. “We look forward to seeing the work these exceptional students put into the world in the years to come.”
Each year, over 2,000 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 2018-2019 winning entries.