About the Sokol Awards
Since 1958, the Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library has sponsored a creative writing contest for Monroe County high school students in grades nine through twelve.
Entries from public, private, charter schools and Home Schools are welcome!
In 1985, Mr. & Mrs. Eli and Mildred Sokol established an endowment, through the Community Foundation, that makes it possible for us to award monetary prizes to the winners and honoraria to the judges. We are pleased to offer a special performance prize in addition to the traditional prose and poetry prizes. Through the Sokols’ foresight and generosity, the Friends & Foundation of RPL will be able to encourage young writers for generations to come.
Cash Prizes
$1,500 in cash prizes are awarded: $300 for first prize (Prose and Poetry); $200 for second prize (Prose and Poetry); $100 for third prize (Prose and Poetry); and one $300 prize for the Performance winner. If a group wins the performance prize, the prize is equally divided by the number of people in the group.
Poetry
1st Place: From Tissue Paper Magnolias, Joyce Shi (above, left), 12th grade, Pittsford Mendon High School
2nd Place: 11 Reasons Why This Is Our Home, Elani Spencer (above, center), 11th grade, School of the Arts (SOTA)
3rd Place: She Plays with Golden Fire, Aries Champion (above, right), 12th grade, School of the Arts (SOTA)
Prose
1st place: Woven Stories, Grayce Peltz (above, left), 9th grade, School of the Arts (SOTA)
2nd place: Psyche, Ana Paku (above, center), 12th grade, Pittsford Sutherland High School
3rd place: Eduardo’s Mercedes, (above, right), Audrey Cleveland, 10th grade, homeschool
Thanks to our partners at The College at Brockport, the winning entries for 2022 can be viewed and downloaded here.
The complete collection of Sokol award winning entries (2015 through 2022) can be viewed and downloaded here.
Since 2015, winning entries have been downloaded collectively more than 2,000 times, from at least 44 countries!
