Submit an original poem for the BART Lines Teen Poetry Contest

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Submissions open Friday, February 9, 2024

Learn more on the official contest page: bart.gov/bartlines

BART is pleased to announce the 2024 BART Lines Teen Poetry Contest. This will be BART’s first writing contest for youth, following last year’s short story contest for adults. 

With the BART Lines Teen Poetry Contest, BART is thrilled to lift and amplify the voices of Bay Area youth, whose perspectives, opinions, and ideas are providing us with a roadmap for the future – one that is informed by their lived experiences as well as the unique histories of their communities. We are listening and learning from you!  

By providing a forum for teens’ voices and creativity with BART Lines, we are underlining our belief that the words, ideas, and foresight of youth matter. One day soon, they will be the leaders and visionaries that decide the future of public transportation, and therefore, the future of our region. 

A BART Lines winner reads his poem at Glen Park Station. 

Theme: Bay is Home

The theme for the BART Lines Teen Poetry Contest is “Bay is Home.” We want to read your poems related to the Bay Area. Your submission might describe a location – somewhere you take BART, for example – or maybe a specific spot that inspired your piece. With this theme, we’re asking: How do the many places, people, and aspects of the region make the Bay home? 

One of BART’s free story dispensers, where the winning poems will be uploaded.

Together with BART Lines partners and judges 826 Valencia and Youth Speaks, we are reinforcing the value arts and cultural organizations bring to BART and our community of riders. These partnerships also highlight the key role public transportation plays in connecting people to experiences that have the power to change and enrich their lives.  

When we ride transit, we hold space for one another. On a crowded train, we remove our backpacks and latch our bikes; we stand for someone who needs to sit; and we scooch to the window seat when space is sparse. Riding transit reminds us that we exist in an interconnected web of others – your fellow passengers, who carry with them their dreams, imaginings, and aspirations (along with their shopping bags and suitcases). BART Lines seeks to celebrates this.  

Do you know any teen writers?

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