In April, North Branch Middle Schoolers attended a virtual workshop led by the Pulitzer Center, learning about their mission to find and share underreported stories. Students each chose a story from the Center, then used words or lines from it to write a poem. Entering the poems in the Pulitzer Center’s “Fighting Words” poetry contest was optional.
Out of 725 entries from 11 countries and 20 US states & Washington, DC, 19 finalists were chosen. NBS student, Zina Parker ’21, was one of those finalists!
You can read and listen to her poem “Hope” here: https://pulitzercenter.org/hope
Alissa Quart, this year’s “Fighting Works” contest judge writes: “Now, and in the future, we will need imaginative, non-traditional ways of presenting accurate information with emotional acuity… I was heartened by these poems, filled with a sense of possibility about both the journalism and poetry to come.”
Congratulations to Zina, who shares in her bio that she finds poetry to be an effective way of expressing emotion or to clear one’s mind.
Links to news coverage about Zina’s award are here:
https://www.nbc29.com/2021/06/19/central-virginia-teen-writes-hope-poem-nominated-national-award/