The conversation around mental health has never been more important.

This year’s Why I Rise competition provided students with an outlet to share their voice: their struggle and hope, their pain and their joy.

Thank you everyone who submitted poems this year!

TOP 5 LA POETS $1,000 WINNERS
Sierra Leone Anderson – If Memory is a Parent
Cortunay Minor – To Have, and To Lose
Elora Sparnicht – At Seventeen
Audrey Schlief – Brain Chemistry
Sophia Bazini Barakat – Grocery Shopping For My Identity

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL WINNER $1,000
Jada Marie-Pierre – I wish, I wish, I wish

HONORABLE MENTIONS $100
Mayra Ortiz – A conversation while washing dishes
Dharma Lemon – Obituary For Toxic Positivity 
Alyssa Parton – Cold Blankets
Christian Celestine – Watermelon and Rainbows
Catherine Peng – yesterday i watched “everything, everywhere, all at once” and that night, i slept like a baby
Sam (Yusheng) Luo – When the Life Gave the Gay Boy Lemons

Self-expression through poetry and performance is a powerful way to connect with, process and communicate your experiences and aspirations. Spoken word poetry brings out the storyteller in each of us, and builds a community of connection for all of us.