The ruth weiss Foundation names two Girls Write Now mentees as winners and one as a finalist in annual poetry awards
Each year, the ruth weiss Foundation challenges poets to respond to a prompt centered around social justice and meaningful activism. The poet ruth weiss was a child survivor of World War II and dedicated her entire life to raising awareness of the ramifications of war on children. Her poetry often expresses a child’s war trauma and the joy of being safe and free to grow as a child. For 2023, the prompt was on the effects of war on children and their well-being.
Among the winners and finalists were multiple mentees within our community.
Ariel Zhang was awarded the Youth Poet Award for her piece, “you can’t be alive and still write poetry,” which “strives to advocate that we are all interconnected.”
Asma Al-Masyabi took home the Emerging Poet Award for her poem, “The Future I Feed My Brother,” and dedicated the piece to her younger brother.
Megumi Jindo placed as a Youth Poet finalist for her work, “Acrylic Snippets of A Future,” which she envisioned as a “calling to the world.”
The Foundation held an awards ceremony in Los Angeles, Califonia, on November 19th, in honor of UN World Children’s Day.