Winners announced in Beals Young Poets contest at Winchendon library

WINCHENDON – Ten high school poets shared their work on Thursday, Nov. 20, for the Beals Prize for Young Poets contest, where Arina Masalskaia earned first place, Grace Alatalo placed second and Yuki Takahashi took third.

Held at the Beals Memorial Library and named for library benefactor Charles L. Beals, the contest celebrates creative writing by students from Athol High School, Cushing Academy, Gardner High School, Montachusett Regional, Murdock High School, Narragansett Regional, Oakmont Regional, St. Bernard’s, the Sizer School, the Winchendon School, and Conant High School in New Hampshire.

The Beals Prize for Young Poets was made possible through the support of the Beals Memorial Library and the Friends of the Library.

The event was hosted by Library Director Manuel King, who welcomed families, students and community members. King explained that the judges selected 10 finalists out of 45 submissions through a blind judging process. Each finalist read their poem aloud before the judges.

This year’s jury included DeMisty D. Bellinger, a creative writing professor at Fitchburg State University and author of “New to Liberty”; Fred Gerhard, an Ashburnham poet and editor for Quabbin Quills and Smoky Quartz; and Jared D’Arcey, a Spanish teacher and assistant dean at The Winchendon School.

The finalists were Grace Alatalo (Oakmont), Lukas Botnick, Ines Khamis, Ophylia Li, Arina Masalskaia, Stella Sun, Yuki Takahashi, Lucas Torrado, and Angelina Yu (all Cushing Academy), and Kaitlyn Rossi (Athol).

“There were times where I was struggling to even eat food, but there were also times where I was in the company of highly valued people. It was inspired by my dad’s ability to be hardworking – that’s kind of how we made it out.”

Arina Masalskaia

Masalskaia, a junior at Cushing Academy, is a multilingual writer and spoken-word performer originally from Moscow, Russia. According to the event program, she also publishes articles on politics and philosophy and competes in spoken-word poetry.

Her poem “Pending” is written in labeled sections that resemble official paperwork, using the format to explore themes of identity, displacement and belonging. Lines such as “You ask how I got here? Ask how I stayed” and “Here is every time I said thank you when I wanted to scream” highlight the tension between survival and self-expression.

“My inspiration for it was my experience growing up,” Masalskaia said. “There were times where I was struggling to even eat food, but there were also times where I was in the company of highly valued people. It was inspired by my dad’s ability to be hardworking – that’s kind of how we made it out.”

Her poem ends with the line, “Pending nothing. Because I am already here. And I will not fold myself smaller to fit your forms.”

Masalskaia said she hopes her writing reminds readers “you never know what someone has been through.” She hopes to pursue writing professionally, possibly as a political journalist.

Alatalo, a junior at Oakmont Regional High School, began writing poetry in her creative writing class and said it quickly became an outlet. Alatalo said she hopes to become an author someday.

Her poem “Atomic Tangerine” uses color to explore heartbreak and healing, turning the bright hue of orange into a symbol of loss and resilience. A line in the poem describes it as “not the soft hue of a warm sunset, but the violent shade that warns of heartbreak.”

“It’s kind of cheesy to say, but it’s about teenage heartbreak,” Alatalo said. “I wrote it last year in my creative writing class, but decided to enter it this year.”

The poem’s imagery moves from traffic cones and buoys to sunsets and jack-o’-lanterns, tracing how one color can carry memories of love and loss.

“Heartbreak is a part of life, but you can still learn to overcome and deal with it,” Alatalo said.

Takahashi is a senior at Cushing Academy originally from Yokohama, Japan. According to the event program, he spent his early childhood living with his grandparents in the Japanese countryside, where he developed a deep appreciation for nature and attention to small details, which continues to influence his work.

His poem “Reminders of Japan” reflects on those early memories through gentle, sensory imagery such as incense after rain, temple bells, and koi gliding beneath maple leaves. It ends with the line, “In the pause – ma – I hear home hiding in the silence.”

“It was my first time writing an actual poem,” Takahashi said. “I’m so happy I won third. I didn’t expect it.”