A Celebration of Books,
Writers & LIterary Excellence

Save the Date


Gaithersburg
Book Festival

May 18, 2024

10am – 6pm

Bohrer Park


Poetry Contest Finalists

The 12 INCREDIBLE finalists for this year’s high school poetry contest have been selected! The top 3 Winners, as selected by our celebrity judge, will be announced at the Book Festival on May 18th (time TBD).

Vote for ‘Fan Favorite!’

We encourage you to read all of our finalists’ poems and click the “like” button on your favorite(s). The author of the poem with the most likes as of May 10, 2024 will receive the Fan Favorite award and prize.

NOTE: Please don’t “game the system” and find some tool that automatically votes for your favorite poem a million times. The Gaithersburg Book Festival reserves the right to discontinue the Fan Favorite portion of the contest if we see any suspicious activity of this sort.

Arborous Condition

Aidan Sadler

Colgan High School

Prince William County, VA

I want to be a tree, deep in the heart of a forest— where sparrows and robins dart through branches, singing their springtime songs, carefree; the steady thrum of the creek meandering past me, murky and pure; deer’s hooves rustling… Continue Reading

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Canvas of Hope: A Tapestry for Tomorrow

Jake Weiss

Oakton High School

Fairfax County, VA

In the tapestry of time, a vision unfolds, A better future, where hope resolutely holds. Fields of promise, painted in hues of change, A world transformed, no longer estranged. See the rivers of compassion, flowing wide, Bridges of understanding spanning… Continue Reading

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Color Coded

Ariana Miranda

Wheaton High School

Montgomery County, MD

I hate the color pink, It’s association with frilly dresses and delicacy got me to think; Pink is for girly girls Blue is for Tom Boys The difference was clear, rules were written in ‘irreversible’ ink. Announcing an admiration accomplishes… Continue Reading

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Hollow

Sarah Athapaththu

Oakton High School

Fairfax County, VA

A husk of the man I once was I walk along with strange faces With their beaming souls And glowing smiles I do not understand them. A curt smile, a nod. A shared cigar was all it was, Yet they’ll… Continue Reading

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My hair’s twists and tangles

Ayomi Mukerjee

Thomas Wooton High School

Montgomery County, MD

A tall tree sinks in its uncanny world Until flowers, vivid with color, sprout Now the tree is beautiful. Coarse strands of unlit waves extend from my head But I’m not beautiful. an inching caterpillar patently abides time before emerging… Continue Reading

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pop’s culture

Anya Nehra

Oakton High School

Fairfax County, VA

i: manifest destiny Grandpa: Dad: Son: i am raised in the soil i am raised in your smelly arms i am raised by misfits sharp smells of fertility surround me but i am consumed by the pungent odor of missing… Continue Reading

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Sick of Watering Dead Flowers

Daniela Parra-Torres

Richard Montgomery High School

Montgomery County, MD

This town is making me sick. I’m sick of the sun waking me up before my alarm Sick of caking my face so I can look “pretty”, So that I can be treated with a little more respect. Today is… Continue Reading

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The Bloody Lane

Isabela Revis

Oakton High School

Fairfax County, VA

In memoriam of the men who perished and were placed in the grave called The Bloody Lane at Antietam battlefield during the Civil War. What blood of my blood has bled over thee, Thy path of immense breadth and gravity?… Continue Reading

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The Old, The Young

Ava Carranza

Richard Montgomery High School

Montgomery County, MD

In the stubborn hearts, In dreams untainted, Resistance resides. The sky meets the limit. Believing the past is gold, Challenging the norms of yesterday, A treasure to stay unchanging. Reaching for the untenable. Ears closed to Youths pleas, Voices raised… Continue Reading

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Tinted Lenses

Chunmin Huang

Oakton High School

Fairfax County, VA

Bleak, dreary, and dull were his eyes, lacking any passion or signs of life. The days a repeating loop And the years an endless cycle. Tired of being one of many washed out bricks That all fit perfectly into the… Continue Reading

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Voyage to the Exoplanet

Chelsea Zhu

Richard Montgomery High School

Montgomery County, MD

If I could write your story, then you’d leave me for a whale’s tail, your smile emerging from their splashes. A bicycle ride away, your home beside the sand paths. In Nebraska, we lived a quiet life: spring mornings by… Continue Reading

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War Paint

Devin Casey

Patterson Mill High School

Harford County, MD

Beyond our flawless porcelain crypt, there is a pulsing light guiding us out of the lonely trenches we built A forest where we have no barbed fences to separate trees from flowers and keep a thirsty deer from the riverbank.… Continue Reading

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About the Poetry Contest

High school students from across the Washington Metropolitan Area were invited to submit short poems to the Gaithersburg Book Festival High School Poetry Contest.

This year, the prompt was “Envision a Better Future.”

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