Amanda Gorman is launching a poetry award for public high school students.
Gorman, the 23-year-old who shot to literary stardom after reading a poem at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, is partnering with Penguin Random House to establish the Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry, the publisher announced in a news release. The prize will come with a cash award of $10,000.
“I’m honored to be partnering with Penguin Random House on their poetry award for high school students,” Gorman said. “As someone who found my love of writing at a young age, I want to continue to foster that same love in the next generation of great poets.”
Gorman, the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate, is one of the country’s most recognizable poets. Her reading of the poem “The Hill We Climb” at Biden’s inauguration in January catapulted her into the spotlight; she followed that up the next month by becoming the first poet ever to perform at the Super Bowl.
“As Amanda Gorman’s publisher, we see first-hand the incredible impact her poetry has on readers,” said Jen Loja, the president of Penguin Young Readers. “We are thrilled that her work will now be a further inspiration to student poets across America through the Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards’ newly established annual Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry scholarship competition.”
Gorman’s poetry collection Call Us What We Carry, which will feature her now-famous inaugural poem, is slated for publication on Dec. 7.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
