🎧 Listen: 2025 Poetry Forward Winners 

Poetry Forward (formerly known as 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 a panel of judges: Dr. Tod Marshall, Gonzaga University, 2016-18 Washington Poet Laureate; Kate Myre, Faculty at Cornish College of the Arts; Mery Smith, current Spokane Poet Laureate. The judges chose the recognized poems from a blind review—not knowing the identity of the students who wrote the poems. 

• First Place: Sidra Marshall of Anacortes High School (Anacortes) with “Home” 
• Honorable mentions: Luis Mata of River Ridge High School (Lacey) with “America’s Loss” and Elizabeth McAleer of Battle Ground High School (Battle Ground) with “and we sing, America” 

Sidra Marshall reading “Home”

Luis Mata reading “America’s Loss”

Elizabeth McAleer reading “and we sing, America”