Solebury School Student Runner Up In High School Poet Of The Year Contest

A Bristol Township student has been named the 2025 Bucks County High School Poet of the Year and a Solebury School students is a runner up.

Nilüfer Bektas, a junior at Harry S. Truman High School, wrote poetry that rose to the top among more than 120 entries from across the county, according to Professor Ethel Rackin, director of the Bucks County Poet Laureate Program at Bucks County Community College.

Bektas will receive a $300 prize for her winning work, which includes the poems “An Unspoken Eulogy,” “Heat Lightning,” and “Liberty.”

Rackin noted that judges found all submissions to be strong in the program’s 38th year.

Each student submitted three poems, which were judged by current Bucks County Poet Laureate Lake Angela and last year’s laureate Tara Tamburello.

Three runners-up were also named: Evie Lee, a senior at Solebury School, first runner-up for her poems “losing daylight,” “ahn yin,” and “February”; Jack DeBoyace, a junior at Central Bucks East, second runner-up for “Of,” “They Said,” and “Punctum”; and Addison Carr, a junior at Central Bucks West, third runner-up for “Eelgrass,” “Anxiety is a Deer,” and “Dead Deer.”

More than a dozen finalists were also recognized.

A list of contest finalists:

Jennifer Alpert, Council Rock High School South, 12th
Steven Belder, Council Rock High School South, 12th
Avery Devlin, Council Rock High School South, 12th
Maisarah Aminah Dombrowski, Pennsbury High School, 10th
Sophia Evola, Central Bucks High School South, 10th
Anastasiya Golub, Council Rock High School South, 12th
Jaelyn Graham, Council Rock High School South, 12th
Patrick Hansell, Council Rock High School South, 12th
Evelyn Kerr, Central Bucks High School West, 9th
Jill Melson, Central Bucks High School West, 11th
Josiah Miller, Calvary Christian Academy, 11th
Brynn Minko, Council Rock High School South, 12th
Michael Shalevich, Council Rock High School South, 12th
Cooper Sherwood, Council Rock High School South, 12th
Sarah Ustenko, Council Rock High School South, 12th
Kalena Viera, William Tennent High School, 11th

A reading and celebration featuring the winners, finalists, and judges will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 17, in room 142 of Tyler Hall on the community college’s Newtown Township campus at 275 Swamp Road.

Free parking is available at the community college campus.

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