Young Adult Winners and Finalists: Fighting Words Poetry Contest 2026

Read the winning entries below, and explore this year’s K–11 poems here.
Register for a July 30 workshop and conversation with past contest winners here.

We asked young adults entering the 2026 Fighting Words Poetry Contest how responding to the news through poetry can support mental wellbeing and a healthy society. One goal of the contest is to provide an outlet and encouragement to process the stories and issues shaping our world emotionally as well as intellectually.

“News stories often move quickly, especially online, and poetry creates space to slow down and reflect on the human impact behind headlines and statistics,” wrote Jonathan Cavazos, one of our contest winners in the Climate and Environment category. “It allows people to transform fear, frustration, grief, or hope into something meaningful and shared.”

We are grateful to every writer who slowed down, reflected, and transformed their reactions to the Pulitzer Center-supported stories into something meaningful and shared. While the Fighting Words Poetry Contest is entering its ninth year in 2026, this is the first time we have been able to extend the opportunity beyond K–11 to young adults. We received 334 entries from graduating high school seniors and poets ages 18–24, representing 27 U.S. states and 27 different countries.

We hope their work can be a light illuminating complex issues, perspectives, and personal connections to the news.

Thank you to our semifinal and final round judges: Ethan Widlansky, Morgan Varnado, Hannah Berk, Josaphat Barcenas-Argueta, and Kara Andrade.