Poetry Ourselves is an optional, original poetry contest open to all Poetry Out Loud school champions and students participating in POL Virtual. Of the 52 students eligible to participate, 17 students submitted poems. The entries were first reviewed by staff, before passing them along to Dr. Tod Marshall of Gonzaga University, and 2016-2018 Washington State Poet Laureate. Marshall chose the recognized poems from a blind review—not knowing the identity of the students who wrote the poems.

Watch Tod announce the finalists here, and listen to their readings below.

• First Place: Luca Artz of Mount Si High School (Snoqualmie) with “The Recipe”
• Honorable mentions: Leki Albright of Liberty Bell High School (Winthrop) with “In Betweens” and Nascha Martinez (Kingston) with “A Generation’s Soliloquy”