Creative Writing Student Receives Second Place In Princeton Poetry Contest
Full-Day Academic Studio | Creative Writing Student Receives $250 and Invited To Princeton For Awards Ceremony
Louisiana’s arts conservatory, NOCCA is proud to share the news that Level III Creative Writing Student and full-day school Academic Studio student from New Orleans, Darius Christiansen is the second place winner for the Princeton University Poetry contest for High School students.
In November 2016, Christiansen submitted his poem, “Blueprint of the South” to the Princeton University competition. The poem was an homage to Emmett Till, a 1955 hate crime victim from Chicago. Darius was inspired to write the poem after discovering a book of poems dedicated to Till’s life.
Tracy K. Smith, a Pulitzer Prize winning poet and Creative Writing Faculty Member at Princeton University, wrote to Darius directly to congratulate him on the award. She wrote, “The faculty read hundreds of entries; your brilliant work rose to the top.”
Darius believes that “Blueprint of the South” resonates with current events in society because of the similar hate crimes that have continued in America. “I looked up images of Emmett Till and I was struck by the fact someone would be so hateful of someone’s skin color that their mom could not recognize him… This could happen to anybody and has happened in many forms,” Darius said.
Darius continued, “Many people in my society have become numb to what is going on in the black community. We have to rebel… people need to stop being nonchalant about it.” Darius is of mixed-decent, and wants people to realize that he relates to the oppression of minority populations. “I am going through the same thing, even though I am mixed-race. I am here to help and push forward.”
NOCCA Creative Writing Faculty Anne Gisleson shared her pride by saying, “Having a Pulitzer Prize winning poet like Tracy K. Smith call your work ‘brilliant’ is something else. Darius is on fire this year with his creative work.”
Darius plans to continue writing and submitting new work to publications and competitions in the near future, and is honored that Princeton recognized the hard work and dedication that went into his poem. “It was amazing that my voice, a New Orleans boy, was heard in New Jersey,” he said.
Darius’s poem will be published on the Princeton University Lewis Center for the Arts website in February.
His award includes a $250 cash prize, as well as a trip to Princeton University, where he is invited to an awards lunch and reading with creative writing faculty on April 5, 2017.
About Princeton University contest for High School Students
The Lewis Center is designed to put the creative and performing arts at the heart of the Princeton experience. The Program in Creative Writing’s Princeton University Poetry Contest for High School Students recognizes outstanding work by student writers in the 11th grade.