Beatrix Maynard Wins Top Prize in
2023 Gaithersburg Book Festival High School Poetry Contest

GAITHERSBURG, Md (May 24, 2023). Beatrix Maynard, a sophomore at Annapolis High School and an Edgewater, Md., resident, was awarded first prize in the 2023 Gaithersburg Book Festival poetry contest for high school students for her poem "See the ‘I’ in Windows."

Second prize went to Silver Spring, Md., resident Lily Scheckner, a sophomore at Montgomery Blair High School, for "Halbjude.” Haille Treadaway, a Brooklyn Park, Md., resident and senior at Annapolis High School, received third prize for "A Dream in the City."  The Fan Favorite was "bleach," a poem by Harshita Chinta, a sophomore at Poolesville High School who resides in Rockville, Md. 

First-, second- and third-place winners were awarded $250, $100 and $50, respectively. The Fan Favorite winner received $25.

Local poet Sara R. Burnett, who judged the contest, announced the top three winners at the Festival on May 20.

Speaking about Maynard’s first-place poem, Burnett said, “I love this poem for its relentless strength in voice and in message as it imagines what it might be like to have storefront windows more accurately portray female bodies. With echoes of Lucille Clifton and Maya Angelou, this poet knows how to follow the sounds to make a powerful music all her own.”

To be eligible for the poetry contest, students had to be enrolled in grades 9-12 at a public or private school, or be in a homeschool program, for the 2022-23 school year. Additionally, entrants had to reside in Maryland, Virginia or the District of Columbia.