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OPRF senior named student poet laureate
Natalie Richardson
Updated: October 28, 2012 6:34AM
OAK PARK — Oak Park and River Forest High School senior Natalie Richardson is one of five students chosen nationally as a student poet laureate.
The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers bestowed the honor, as part of its Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, according to a press release Monday from OPRF. Richardson received the honor Sunday at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.
Richardson will receive $5,000 and spend the next year serving as a literary ambassador throughout the Midwest. According to OPRF, she’ll design community service projects and conduct readings, workshops and other events. She will also work with poet mentors and serve as a resource for the White House, the U.S. Department of Education and the Library of Congress.
Richardson has been a member of the OPRF Spoken Work Club and Slam Team for two years, OPRF said in its release. She competed in the Louder Than a bomb poetry festival last year and recorded a piece for public radio station WBEZ.
More than 300,000 students applied for the awards, according to OPRF. About 1,200 received national silver and gold medals. OPRF had four students reach this level:
• Natalie Richardson, senior, gold
• Camara Brown, senior, silver
• Dorothy Moore, senior, silver
• Hannah Srajer, senior, silver
Five were chosen to represent different regions of the country as student poet laureates.
