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Saratoga Teen Among 5 High Schoolers Named National Student Poets

SARATOGA (CBS / AP) — Five high school juniors, including a teen from the South Bay, have been named National Student Poets.

A partnership between the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the student poet program was launched in 2011, with winners contributing to community programs and and poetry events and performing their work everywhere from Lincoln Center to the White House. Winning applicants each represent a different region and are chosen based on creativity, dedication and promise.

Manasi Garg from Saratoga was the winner in the West region. Garg, who is set to begin her senior year at Saratoga High School, is also editor-in-chief of the school's student newspaper.

Manasi Garg - National Student Poet
Manasi Garg. (National Student Poets Program via AP)

Along with Garg, this year's poets include Isabella Ramirez, from Lake Worth, Florida; Ethan Wang, from Katy, Texas; Madelyn Dietz, from St. Paul, Minn.; and Anthony Wiles, from Sewickley, Pennsylvania. Each receives a $5,000 cash award.

"Now more than ever, we look to a rising generation of creative leaders to demonstrate the power that poetry and the literary arts have to inspire, galvanize, and unite communities," Christopher Wisniewski, executive director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. said in a statement Wednesday. "We are excited to work with these five exceptional teens to engage museums, libraries, and schools in the year ahead, and we are eager to see all that they will accomplish."

The final five were selected from more than 20,000 submissions, reviewed by a panel that included former U.S. poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera and such fellow poets as Edward Hirsch, Danez Smith and Arthur Sye.

© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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