The South Florida Youth Poet Laureate competition is a collaboration between the Jason Taylor Foundation’s Omari Hardwick bluapple Poetry Network, and Urban Word, a New York-based literary arts education and youth development organization that facilitates the National Youth Poet Laureate competition, a program that, as of 2026, is in more than fifty cities/regions across the country.
An esteemed panel of educators, authors, poets, and community professionals meticulously read through the student submissions, each of which includes a portfolio of five to ten poems and a curriculum vitae, and are judged and scored according to the provided rubric. The goal is to not only identify the most artistically talented writer of poetry, but also one who is engaged in his or her community and who can best represent bluapple Poetry and the Foundation when presenting to potential partners and stakeholders. At the end of the process, one Youth Poet Laureate and two Youth Poet Ambassadors are selected each year.
As South Florida Youth Poet Laureate, the winner will have a chapbook of his or her poems published and will work with the Jason Taylor Foundation and Urban Word to help foster community and social awareness through their poetry. In addition, the South Florida Youth Poet Laureate will also be automatically nominated for the chance to represent the South Region in the National Youth Poet Laureate competition.
2026 YOUTH POET LAUREATE
Kennedy Shivers is a full-time dual-enrollment student completing both her high school diploma and an Associate of Arts degree simultaneously. Kennedy has already distinguished herself as one of South Florida’s most dynamic emerging literary talents. Her accomplishments include multiple Gold & Silver Key Awards in the 2026 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, with four works advancing to national adjudication, including “The Game of Life is Rigged”, an American Voices Nominee. Beyond poetry, Kennedy is also a Congressional App Challenge winner, student journalist, coder, and civic leader whose work reflects both intellectual depth and creative innovation.
