Youth Poet Laureate Applications

Pictured above is Wilson High School alumna Claire Beeli, the first Long Beach Youth Poet Laureate. 

The Long Beach Public Library, in partnership with the Arts Council for Long Beach and the nonprofit Urban Word NYC, is calling on all teen poets interested in entering the 2025 Long Beach Youth Poet Laureate program.

As their third year hosting the initiative, they offer Long Beach youth “the opportunity to inspire positive change in their communities through the power of activism and poetry.”

Applications are open from December 15 through February 15 for those 13 to 18 years old.

Finalists will be invited to a public reading event in May, during which the next youth poet laureate and ambassadors will be announced. The selected youth poet laureate will receive a $1,500 scholarship, while each poet ambassador will receive a $500 scholarship.

Learn more and submit applications at artslb.org.