Applications for 2025 will open on January 3!
The Oakland Youth Poet Laureate (OYPL) program is an unprecedented citywide effort to celebrate literacy through poetry and connect young writers to far-reaching opportunities.
Each year we accept applications from talented Oakland writers (ages 13-18) to join a community of young poets.
Read more about the application, opens a new window and judging process.
Book a Poet
Interested in booking a poet for an event or performance? Fill out the Booking Request form:
Note: Booking is handled by OPL's Teen Services Department and dependent on availability.
Please allow up to five business days for a response. Requests that are made at least three weeks in advance are more likely to be filled.
Oakland Youth Poet Laureate Performance & Application Launch
OYPL FAQs
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The Laureate represents Oakland and its youth at public and private events and is a model for other youth. They also share their experiences with the press and through blogs, videos, and social media.
The Laureate will have the opportunity to develop their own poet-leader project.
Everyone who applies will be invited to enter into a community of young poets and youth advocates.
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You are eligible to apply if:
- you live in Oakland
- you are between the ages of 13 and 18 on the day the application is due
- you will be available to serve as Laureate for the program year, which means that you will live locally the whole year and won't be enrolled in college full-time during the whole year (June - June)
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Once the application is live and we are accepting submissions, you'll find it linked on all the OYPL pages on the website.
You can download the paper application as a PDF here now.
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Applications for the 2025 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate will be open from January 3 to February 3, 2025.
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There are two rounds of judging.
The first round is scored anonymously. The judges read the three poems you submit with your application and score them based on the Content, Craft, and Voice.
The poets who score the highest in the first round will move on to the second and final round of judging and be considered the year's OYPL Finalists.
In the final round, the judges score these Finalists on Performance and Leadership, based on the letter of support, the artist statement, any awards and community service, and previous involvement in the OYPL program, as well as a mandatory in-person reading and interview with the panel of judges in April.
The Oakland Youth Poet Laureate will be the one poet who scores the highest total of both rounds. The Vice Laureate will have the second highest score.
What have the OYPL poets been up to?
The Oakland Youth Poet Laureate poets have accomplished so much! OYPL members have shared their talents with Oaklanders of all ages, and with people from far beyond Oakland.
Please celebrate their words, their truths, their stories, and all that they've accomplished.
OYPL Performances and More
OYPL Event
Learning to love poetry
Meet This Year's OYPL Poets
Meet This Year's OYPL Judges
(Make sure to select Oakland Youth Poet Laureate in the Programs section.)
The Oakland Youth Poet Laureate program is supported by an alliance of community partners representing Oakland’s leading arts, education and community organizations. Scholarship and prize funding is provided by the Friends of the Oakland Public Library. Scholarship administration and financial, cultural, and social support is provided by Scholarship America.
Community Partners: Write-to-Read and Alameda County Library, Chapter 510, and Youth Speaks, opens a new window with support from Urban Word.
