The Charles Crupi Memorial Poetry Contest
Annual Poetry Contest Open to Michigan High School Students
Albion College sponsors an annual poetry contest for high school students in Michigan. The contest is dedicated to Charles Crupi, a beloved English professor at Albion who passed away in 2009. Professor Crupi believed that language matters, that poems matter, that students matter—and that is precisely what this contest is about: language, poems, students. All Michigan high school students are eligible to enter. Winners will receive cash prizes ($250, $150, and $100 for the top three entries), and their poems will be published in our national undergraduate journal, The Albion Review. There is no cost to enter. All submissions should be sent in via Submittable.
Contest guidelines and submit your poetry
Congratulations to our winners!
2022 - 2023 Contest Winners
1st place
Sadie Burch
Poem Title: “Women in Broken Showers”
Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
2nd place
Ashmi Ranjan
Poem Title: “Kindling”
Athens High School, Troy, MI
3rd Place (tie)
Greer Engle-Roe
Poem title: “Homestead Orchard”
Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
3rd Place (tie)
Emily Pickering
Poem title: “When All the Lights Had Dimmed”
Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
2021-2022 Contest Winners
1st place
Ray Zhang
Poem Title: “My grandma hands me a jade pendant”
Troy High School, Troy, MI
2nd place (tie)
Neva Ensminger-Holland
Poem Title: “Please Remind My Mother It’s Not My Fault”
Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
2nd place (tie)
Avery Gendler
Poem Title: “Anthem”
Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
3rd Place (tie)
Alana Voglewede
Poem title: “Car Conversations with My Sister”
St. Joseph High School, St. Joseph, MI
3rd Place (tie)
Emily Watson
Poem title: “My First Panic Attack in the Art Hallway Bathroom, First Stall”
St. Joseph High School, St. Joseph, MI
2020-2021 Contest Winners
1st Place
Sara Carmichael
Poem title: “Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C., 1962”
Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
2nd Place
Maia Siegel
Poem title: “Evangelical Mothers and their Daughters Huddle Around My Fourteen-Year-Old Mouth, Shining a Flashlight Into it to Show What it Looks Like When You Kiss a Boy Before Marriage”
Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
3rd Place (tie)
Bea Craig
Poem title: “The Language of Evesham”
St. Joseph High School, St. Joseph, MI
Sylvia Park
Poem title: “California Wildfires”
St. Joseph High School, St. Joseph, MI
2019-2020 Contest Winners
1st Place
Maia Siegel
Poem title: “New Years Eve in a Basement Outside Lake Success, Long Island”
Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
2nd Place
Charlotte Howald
Poem title: “Noah’s Ark in a Divorce Court”
Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy, Saginaw, MI
3rd Place (tie)
Tatiana Gross
Poem title: “You and Love Are Two Separate Concepts”
Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
Zoe Paskewicz
Poem title: “teeth”
Kenowa Hills High School, Grand Rapids, MI
2018-19 Contest Winners
1st Place
Darius Atefat-Peckham
Poem title: “Against Tombs”
Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
2nd Place
Shira Haus
Poem title: “October 27, 2018”
Kalamazoo Central High School, Kalamazoo, MI
3rd Place
Sophie Paquette
Poem title: “Virgin”
Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI