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Interlochen Arts Academy students selected as Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award commended poets
Creative Writing majors Mari Farrand and Noah Ma are among the 100 young poets from around the world chosen to receive honors in the prestigious, United Kingdom-based award.
Arts Academy Creative Writing students and Foyle Young Poets of the Year commended poets Mari Farrand (left) and Noah Ma (right).
Interlochen Arts Academy Creative Writing students Mari Farrand and Noah Ma were recently selected as honorees in the The Poetry Society’s Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2023 competition.
Farrand, a senior from Corvallis, Oregon, and Ma, a junior from Beijing, China, are among the 85 commended poets honored in the prestigious international poetry competition. As commended poets, Farrand and Ma will have their poems published in an online anthology in spring 2024, enjoy a yearlong youth membership to The Poetry Society, and receive a bag full of books donated by generous publishers. They also joined the competition’s top 15 winners and the other 83 commended poets at an awards ceremony at Shakespeare’s Globe in London, U.K. on Oct. 5, 2023.
"We're so proud that our students' poems were recognized by The Poetry Society,” said Dr. Brittany Cavallaro, Interim Director of Creative Writing at Interlochen Center for the Arts. “The Foyle Young Poets program does so much to support teen writing on an international scale, and I'm thrilled to see Interlochen creative writers represented."
"It was a surprise to be commended by the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2023,” Farrand said. “I only started writing poetry a year ago, but the Creative Writing department at Interlochen has helped me grow so much as a poet and a writer in general."
"Being recognized by the Foyle Young Poets Award is such a wonderful surprise,” Ma said. “I am so grateful for not only receiving this award, but also the people who have supported me along the way—such as the friend who texted me ‘Foyle is due tomorrow!’ in the middle of the night. This is a huge milestone for me as I venture deeper into the literary world, something that marks my journey so far, something that will tell me ‘it's ok, you've come this far’ the next time I feel lost or discouraged."
Presented annually by the United Kingdom-based Poetry Society, the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award provides opportunities for poets ages 11 to 17 to accelerate their writing career. Each year, the program receives more than 13,500 submissions from 6,600 young writers in 100 countries, which are evaluated by a panel of award-winning judges. Since its founding in 1998, the Award has launched the careers of some of today’s most exciting new voices, including Sarah Howe, Phoebe Power, Richard Osmond, and Helen Mort.
