Submissions for the We Read Youth Voices Writing Contest closed on June 30, 2023. We received over 140 submissions from ages 5 all the way up to 18.
Winners
Overall Winners
- Grand Prize Winner: Diya Dhawal, 15, for The War of A Million Years
- Runner Up: Hazel Krueger, 11, for The Strength to Move Forward
- Runner Up: Eliza Thwing, 13, for Time
Age Group Winners
- Age Group Winner (13-18): Monona Faasuamalie, 13, for She
- Age Group Winner (Ages 10-12): Ronav Vasanth, 10, for Together We Move
- Age Group Winner (9 and under): Olivia Lubcke, 9 for Upside Down
The Judges
We want to thank our panel of community judges for their hard work in carefully reading and considering each submission. Our 2023 judges represented a wide swath of the literary community here in Madison:
- Madeleine Bohn, our youth ambassador for the writing contest and the former City of Madison Youth Poet Laureate
- Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu, Forward Madison FC Midfielder
- a Briarpatch & Teens Like Us Councilor
- Kadjata Bah, Journalist at the Simpson Street Press and 2023 Youth Journalist of the Year
- Casem AbuLughod, A Senior Teaching Artists at Whoopensocker
- Kiersten Kansteiner, a Bilingual Resource Teacher at Nuestro Mundo school
2023 Youth Voices Anthology + Wisconsin Book Festival Author Reception
The judges selected an incredible 52 pieces to be included in a print and digital version of the anthology. Print versions are available at all Madison Public Library locations and at all Madison Metropolitan School District library locations or you can download a copy of the anthology.
All featured young authors were honored on Saturday, October 21, 2023 as part of the Four-Day Celebration for the Wisconsin Book Festival, with light refreshments and a brief Q&A with the grand prize winner and two runners-up.