Get Lit, the Los Angeles–based literary nonprofit, today announced 20 winners of If I Awaken in Los Angeles, the largest youth poetry contest in both Los Angeles and the nation, and awarded $30K in cash prizes. Thousands of students and teachers across the region submitted original poems exploring identity, community, lineage, and what it feels like to grow up in a city defined by both beauty and contradiction.
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Get Lit, the Los Angeles–based literary nonprofit, today announced 20 winners of If I Awaken in Los Angeles, the largest youth poetry contest in both Los Angeles and the nation, and awarded $30K in cash prizes. Thousands of students and teachers across the region submitted original poems exploring identity, community, lineage, and what it feels like to grow up in a city defined by both beauty and contradiction.
This year's contest arrives at a critical moment for young people. Across the country, students are facing declining literacy rates, rising loneliness, and shrinking access to the arts. Get Lit's programming exists to counter these trends by offering young people spaces to be seen, heard, and creatively empowered. The astonishing response to If I Awaken in Los Angeles underscores how urgently those spaces are needed and how powerfully students rise when they are invited to speak.
"Get Lit was founded nearly 20 years ago on a simple belief: when young people share their stories, they awaken possibility — in themselves, in their classrooms, and in their communities," said Diane Luby Lane, Get Lit's Founder and Executive Director. "Seeing thousands of students and teachers pour their hearts into this contest and then getting to surprise the winners in person with cash awards and the chance to connect with these extraordinary judges, was profoundly moving. It's a reminder of how much brilliance lives within our young people, and how powerfully poetry can ignite confidence, belonging, and future opportunity."
The finalists were selected by a distinguished panel of celebrated artists including Aloe Blacc, Gina Belafonte, José Olivarez, Chen Chen, and Safia Elhillo. The contest was inspired by the If I Awaken in Los Angeles live album produced by Grammy Award–winning composer Derrick Hodge, featuring three-time U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, former Los Angeles Poet Laureate
Luis Rodriguez, and actor/poet Dante Basco. The announcement follows Get Lit's sold-out performance at The Ford, produced in partnership with the LA Phil.
"This contest, and the thousands of poems students submitted, underscores how urgently young Angelenos need opportunities to be heard, affirmed, and creatively empowered," said CEO of Sankofa.org and contest judge Gina Belafonte. "Selecting the winners was incredibly difficult, and also profoundly hopeful. It showed us just how much brilliance lives in the classrooms and neighborhoods of Los Angeles."
Get Lit brought the news directly to students' campuses, surprising each winner with an in-person announcement surrounded by their peers. "Being selected means so much to me because I've been writing poetry since I was six. I honestly didn't think I'd be chosen, and to be selected by Aloe Blacc feels incredible for me and my family," said student poet Vonne Brider. "I wrote my poem for Compton, and it brought back memories of how powerful this city is and how much it shaped me. Coming back to my old neighborhood and attending Stella High Charter Academy helped me reconnect with my voice and my confidence. I don't hide who I am anymore. I'm open, expressive, and I fight for what I believe in, and this contest reminded me that my voice deserves to be heard."
About the Contest
If I Awaken in Los Angeles invited students to respond creatively to poems from the If I Awaken album, exploring questions of identity, belonging, lineage, language, and place. Educators across the region used the poetry contest powered online by Uni(verse) and eKadence to spark classroom dialogue and empower students to interpret their LA experiences through poetry.
About Get Lit
Get Lit – Words Ignite transforms young people into powerful storytellers, creatives, and community leaders at a moment when youth urgently need spaces to be seen and heard. For 20 years, Get Lit has helped students turn lived experience into art, agency, and opportunity through the transformative power of poetry.
Get Lit delivers programs from classroom to career through an evidence-based literacy curriculum, spoken word performance, and creative workforce development. The organization trains teachers, runs after-school programs and summer intensives, and
expands global access to poetry through the Uni(verse) online platform. Students build voice and confidence through open mics, showcases, and the nationally recognized Classic Slam.
Through Media Lab, the Creative Career Lab, and paid creative opportunities, young people gain real-world skills, mentorship, and pathways into careers in the arts, media, and entertainment. With partners like Anderson.Paak, the NBA, and the Golden
Globes, Get Lit has become a cultural bridge connecting youth voices to the industries shaping our world.
For thousands of young people, Get Lit is both a lifeline and a launchpad.
Follow Get Lit on Instagram (@getlitpoet), LinkedIn (Get Lit - Words Ignite) and Tik Tok (@getlitpoet).
Media Contact
Sarah Bush, Get Lit, 1 323-770-1069, [email protected], https://www.getlit.org/
Diane Luby Lane, Get Lit, 1 310-962-6696, [email protected], https://www.getlit.org/
SOURCE Get Lit
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