BART looking for young budding poets in Bay Area

BART holds first-ever poetry contest for teens

Calling all young budding Bay Area poets. BART has launched its first-ever Teen Poetry Contest, offering the opportunity for winning submissions to be read by thousands of riders.

"I think it’s a good idea," said teen Hugo Maniatis at the downtown Berkeley station. "Maybe I will [submit]. I’ll think about it. I take BART every day."

"I like a little bit of poetry. I don’t know, it’s fun to have that on BART. Why not," added rider Jerome Goreizky, whose young son was grabbing a short story from one of BART's story dispensers.

Winning submissions would be added to the dispensers installed in downtown Berkeley and three other stations in 2021. Another dispenser is scheduled to be added to the San Leandro station in the next few months.

Teens 13 to 19 years old living within the five counties BART services are eligible for the contest.

"It’s great to have kids be more involved in reading," said a rider just learning about the contest.

The deadline to submit is March 8, but BART says the submission period could close sooner if they receive 300 works before then. If they get close to that number, BART says it will provide an update on the contest's web page.
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