Georgia: Poet Laureate's Prize for High School Students

McPherson Newell, winner of the 2015 Georgia Poet Laureate's Prize. Photo courtesy of McPherson Newell.

McPherson Newell is the winner of the 2015 Georgia Poet Laureate’s Prize. Photo courtesy of McPherson Newell

Georgia Council on the Arts (GCA), like many state arts agencies, supports the creation and enjoyment of poetry—and acknowledges the talent and achievement of those who commit their verse to the page—through a state poet laureate program. In addition, GCA works to nourish the next generation of Georgia’s poets, encouraging high school students and their young voices through its Poet Laureate’s Prize. The program was conceived by Georgia Poet Laureate Judson Mitcham and is in its second year. Through it, GCA works with the poet laureate to hail the best original poem by a high school student in the state. This year, Judson Mitcham bestowed the award on McPherson Newell, a sophomore at Lakeside High School in Evans, for her poem that begins, “It is snowing in Beijing / for the first time in a century. / The people’s hair strands / leap like static has replaced the contents of their veins.” Newell and the prize’s four finalists will be honored later this spring by Atlanta Magazine and at the Georgia State Capitol, where they will meet Governor Nathan Deal, First Lady Sandra Deal and Poet Laureate Mitcham. Find out more from GCA Arts Education Manager Allen Bell.