The annual Essay and Short Story contest, and the Bethesda Poetry Contest will honor local writers on March 13 (Poetry) and March 14 (Essay & Short Story). Please join us at these public events to celebrate the achievements of our local high school and adult writers. We thank our partners Bethesda Magazine, The Writer’s Center and The Trawick Foundation for their support.
Local Writer’s Showcase
Local Writer’s Showcase
Mar
13
Mar
14
2025 Schedule
Poetry Reading Featuring this Year’s Poetry Winners & Professional Poets
Thursday, March 13 at 7pm
The Writer’s Center, 4508 Walsh Street
Essay & Short Story Reading Featuring this Year’s Winners
Friday, March 14 at 7pm
The Bethesdan Hotel, 8120 Wisconsin Avenue
The 2025 Poetry Reading and Awards Ceremony will feature readings by Courtney LeBlanc and Alexa Patrick.
Courtney LeBlanc is author of the full length collections Her Whole Bright Life, winner of the Jack McCarthy Book Prize (Write Bloody, 2023), Exquisite Bloody, Beating Heart (Riot in Your Throat, 2021), and Beautiful & Full of Monsters (VA Press, 2020). Her next collection, Her Dark Everything is forthcoming in April 2025 from Riot in Your Throat. She is the Arlington Poet Laureate, a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts fellow (2022), and the founder and editor-in-chief of Riot in Your Throat, an independent poetry. Find her online at www.courtneyleblanc.com.
Alexa Patrick (she/her) is a vocalist and poet from Connecticut. She is the author of Remedies for Disappearing (Haymarket Books, 2023) and holds fellowships from Cave Canem, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and more. Previous artistic partnerships of Alexa’s include Meta, Microsoft, The Kennedy Center, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts. In spring 2023, Alexa made her stage production debut as Un/Sung in the opera We Shall Not Be Moved, (dire. Bill T. Jones). You may find her work in publications including Adroit, The Rumpus, CRWN Magazine, and The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2: Black Girl Magic. Visit alexapatrick.com for more.
2025 Writing Contest Winners
Congratulations to the 2025 Essay, Short Story and Poetry Contest Winners!
The winning essays, short stories and poems will be published on our website after the 2025 Local Writer’s Showcase. Hear the winning works and meet the writers at this year’s Local Writer’s Showcase.
Essay Winners
Sarah Craven, Cabin John, MD, 1st Place
Kathy Wei, Bethesda, MD, 2nd Place
Lisa Park, Fairfax, VA, 3rd Place
Kyi May Kaung, Chevy Chase, MD, Honorable Mention
Celina Santana, Bethesda, MD, Honorable Mention
Lindsey Wray, Arlington, VA, Honorable Mention
High School Essay Winners
Logan Moran, Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS, 1st Place
Caroline Easley, Walt Whitman HS, 2nd Place
Michaela Levy, Winston Churchill HS, 3rd Place
Marin Brow, The Potomac School, Honorable Mention
Eleham Salo, Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS, Honorable Mention
Katja Treadwell, Walt Whitman HS, Honorable Mention
Short Story Winners
Asma Dilawari, Bethesda, MD, 1st place
Laura Kuhlmann, Rockville, MD, 2nd place
John Simpson, Germantown, MD, 3rd place
Olivia Ikenberry, Silver Spring, MD, Honorable Mention
High School Short Story Winners
Max Bakelar, Georgetown Preparatory School, 1st place
Hana Sor, Montgomery Blair HS, 2nd place
Asha Akkinepally, Richard Montgomery HS, 3rd place
Lila Grosko, Montgomery Blair High School, Honorable Mention
Poetry Winners
John Whelan, Columbia, MD 1st Place
John Heath, Washington, DC 2nd Place
Chelsea McGlynn, Walkersville, MD 3rd Place
Carol Jennings, Washington, D.C., Honorable Mention
Thu Nguyen, Gaithersburg, MD, Honorable Mention
Dylan Tran, Washington, D.C., Honorable Mention
High School Poetry Winners
Leah Bulson, Richard Montgomery HS
Chloe Chang, Poolesville HS
Madelyn Downs, Richard Montgomery HS
Charles Gray, Richard Montgomery HS
Katherine Parra, Paint Branch HS
Nina Richards, Richard Montgomery HS
Sponsors
2025 Writing Contests
The Bethesda Urban Partnership & Bethesda Magazine have partnered to honor Essay and Short Story Writers. All Essay and Short Story Contest winners will be published on the Bethesda Urban Partnership and Bethesda Magazine websites and honored at a special event during Local Writer’s Showcase in March 2025.
Important Dates
Deadline for Essay/Poetry Application:
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Deadline for Short Story Application:
Tuesday, January 7, 2025
Notification Date:
Winners will be contacted in February 2025
Writing Contest Questions?
Please email essay@bethesda.org or poetry@bethesda.org or call 301-215-6660, Ext. 117.
Essay Contest
Topic: Open
Deadline for application: Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Awards (Adult)
First Place: $500 and published in Bethesda Magazine
Second Place: $250
Third Place: $150
Honorable Mentions: $100
Online Application for Adult Essay Contest
Awards (High School)
First Place: $250 and published in Bethesda Magazine
Second Place: $150
Third Place: $75
Honorable Mentions: $50
Online Application for High School Essay Contest
All winning essays will be published on the Bethesda Urban Partnership and MoCo360 websites and will be honored at a special event during the Local Writer’s Showcase in March 2025.
Requirements
Essays must be limited to 500 words or less about a topic of the writer’s choosing. Only one entry per person. Your essay must be your original work. Any essays containing material that is obscene or objectionable will be disqualified. Previously published essays are not eligible for Adult Submissions. Use of AI tools like ChatGPT for the contest will result in disqualification.
Eligibility
Residents of Washington, D.C. and the select counties of Maryland (Montgomery, Prince George’s, Howard and Frederick) and Virginia (Arlington, Fairfax, Alexandria) are eligible. High School entries must be residents or attend a school in Montgomery County, MD or Washington, D.C.
Judges:
TBA
Notification: Winners will be contacted in February 2025.
Copyright
All entrants retain the copyright rights that they have in the essays they submit, but by participating in this contest and submitting essays, all entrants grant Bethesda Urban Partnership (BUP) the right, license, and ability to use and publish all submitted essays (in complete form or in excerpted form) on the BUP Web site, on other Web sites, and in other media.
Short Story Contest
Topic: Open
Deadline for application: Tuesday, January 7, 2025
Online Application for Short Story Contest
Awards (Adult)
First Place: $500 and published in Bethesda Magazine
Second Place: $250
Third Place: $150
Honorable Mention: $100
Awards (High School)
First Place: $250 and published in Bethesda Magazine
Second Place: $150
Third Place: $75
Honorable Mention: $50
All winning short stories will be published on the Bethesda Urban Partnership and MoCo360 websites and will be honored at a special event during the Local Writer’s Showcase in March 2025.
Requirements
Stories must be limited between 1,500 and 2,500 words. Only one entry per person permitted.
Eligibility
Residents of Montgomery County, MD and Upper NW Washington, D.C. (20015 and 20016 ZIP codes) are eligible.
The contest will take entries in two categories: High School (grades 9-12) and Adult (ages 18+).
Poetry Contest
Poetry Application
The Bethesda Urban Partnership & The Writer’s Center have partnered on the 2025 Poetry Contest. All Poetry Contest winners will be published on the Bethesda Urban Partnership website and honored at a special event during the Local Writer’s Showcase in March 2025.
Topic: Open
Deadline for application: Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Awards (Adult)
First Place – $350, published on The Writer’s Center’s “First Person Plural” blog, and a free class and membership to The Writer’s Center.
Second Place – $250
Third Place – $150
Honorable Mention – $75 (Up to three Honorable Mentions will be selected)
Online Application for Poetry Contest – Adults
Awards (High School)
Young Poet: $75 (Up to three Young Poets will be selected)
Online Application for Poetry Contest – High School
All winning poems will be published on the Bethesda Urban Partnership and The Writer’s Center websites and will be honored at a special event during the Local Writer’s Showcase in March 2025.
Requirements
Poems cannot be more than 21 lines of text. Do not double space your entry. Only one entry per person. Your poem must be your original work and must be currently unpublished. Any poems containing material that is obscene or objectionable will be disqualified. Use of AI tools like ChatGPT for the contest will result in disqualification.
Eligibility
Residents of Washington, D.C. and the select counties of Maryland (Montgomery, Prince George’s, Howard and Frederick) and Virginia (Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax) are eligible. High School applicants must be residents or attend a school in Montgomery County, MD or Washington, D.C.. Current and former employees, contractors, directors, and officers of the Bethesda Urban Partnership (BUP) and their immediate family members are ineligible. Current students, relatives, or close personal friends of the judge(s) are also ineligible.
Only one entry per person.
Judge
TBA
Notification: Winners will be contacted in February 2025.
Copyright
All entrants retain the copyright rights that they have in the poems they submit, but by participating in this contest and submitting poems, all entrants grant Bethesda Urban Partnership (BUP) the right, license, and ability to use and publish all submitted poems (in complete form or in excerpted form) on the BUP Web site, on other Web sites, and in other media.