In the 2025 Junior League of Washington’s Youth Poetry Contest, we had three winners. Esmeralda Parada won first place and Reginald Galloway IV won second place for 6th grade, and Zahkari Kollore won second place for 8th grade. In addition to receiving first place, Esmeralda Parada’s poem “For My People” received a special commendation for “Theme Mastery” and “Poetic Elements and Language.” This means Esmeralda’s poem achieved a perfect score in those categories.

In the 2025 Parkmont Poetry Festival, fifteen poems by eleven Workshop students were finalists. Three of our writers won, Brandi Fisher and Valentino Johnson in the middle school division and Marlon Holder in the high school division. Our students were the only winners from any neighborhood DCPS school in the city.

In the 2025 D.C. Public Library (Southeast) Haiku Contest, four of our students swept the competition. Justice Moore won first place, Romel Jones won second place, Damarco Bray won third place, and Massiah Jones won an honorable mention.

In the Junior League of Washington’s 24rd Annual Youth Poetry Contest, eight of our Hart Middle School students won for eleven poems. Our writers swept the 6th grade prizes: 1st place to Kyrie Johnson, 2nd place Jayla Nelson (two of her poems tied each other), and 3rd place to Kyrie Johnson (his second poem). In 7th grade: 1st place to Aisha Hunter and 3rd place a tie between Gavin Wood and Aisha Hunter (her second poem). Another sweep in 8th grade: 1st place to Neo-Damien Chamblee, 2nd place a tie between Naeshaun Ford and Zaniyah Taylor, and 3rd place to Trus’ Stevens. This is particularly impressive because the Junior League contest had 161 entries from more than a dozen schools.