Penguin Random House | New York, 07/20/2022

Creative Writing Award 2022: Insights Into The Book World

The winners of the Creative Writing Award 2022 were given a week of professional insights into the world of publishing. The world’s largest English-language book publishing group has been giving out the Creative Writing Awards for 29 years now; its partner in hosting the competition is We Need Diverse Books (WNDB). More than 1,000 students from all over the U.S. submitted entries this year.

In early June, Penguin Random House U.S. announced the winners of its 2022 Creative Writing Award. More than 1,000 students from all over the U.S. had participated this year. The world’s largest English-language book publishing group organized the writing competition, now in its 29th year, in partnership with the We Need Diverse Books organization. Last week, the publishing group treated the five winning students to a week-long professional development program with hands-on knowledge and insights into the book world. From July 11 to 15, high school students Sagar Gupta, Ife Martin, Eva Martinez, Arianna Steadman, and Kayla Xu had direct access to publishing professionals through a series of virtual events designed and organized by PRH’s corporate communications department.

The week kicked off with a Networking 101 workshop led by Shania Carroll, Associate, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), and Human Resource Recruiters Katherine Lam, Kariana Reyes, and Sophia Wells. The workshop offered advice and tips for connecting with publishing professionals. Day Two featured a panel to showcase the plentiful career opportunities across the publishing industry. Moderated by Christine Hung (Knopf), panelists included Kris Kam (Random House Children’s Books), Angela Kim (Berkley Publishing Group), Kelsey Manning (Knopf), Nick Martorelli (Audio Publishing Group), and Talisa Ramos (Penguin Young Readers).

On Day Three, Penguin Young Readers author Amanda Gorman engaged in a lively fireside chat moderated by Cree Myles, Curator of the PRH platform All Ways Black. “It’s important to treat young writers’ writing seriously because it is serious. It’s representative of what the next wave of great literary voices will be,” Amanda said.

On Day Four, each student had the opportunity to discuss their CWA entries in one-on-one virtual meetings with Penguin Random House editors, including Frank Berrios (Random House Children’s Books), Joanna Cardenas (Penguin Young Readers), Maris Dyer (Knopf), Anna Kaufman (Knopf), and Paul Pastor (Waterbrook Multonah). The week concluded with a virtual Creative Writing Award Celebration. In lieu of a traditional awards ceremony, a pre-recorded video featuring the students reading their entries was shared, which we have embedded in this article for you.