Umemezie earns 10th National Youth Poet Laureate title

Three hundred people sit in a crowded room. In front of them, sits a stage with four young faces alongside the host of the event. One by one each finalist is named leading up to the big announcement. Positioning herself in front of the finalist, the host brings the microphone to her lips. The crowd waits in anticipation, imitating a drum roll by slapping their knees. “The 10th, National Youth Poet Laureate of the United States is… Daniel Umemezie!” The young man freshly dressed in a green outfit is showered in an eruption of applause, people rise from the chairs to give him a standing ovation. To the right of the stage a man appears with a bouquet of flowers and hands them to Umemezie. To Umemezie, this scene is life changing and, before now, seemed beyond his belief.

Umemezie earned the title of the 10th National Youth Poet Laureate title for 2026. The National Youth Poet Laureate was once held by people such as American poet and activist Amanda Gorman. Annually, this award is handed out to young individuals between the ages of 13 and 19. Additionally, as stated by the National Youth Poet Laureate website, the program “works with local youth literary arts organizations across the United States to identify and celebrate exceptional youth poets who use their voice to inspire change.”

In order to become a National Youth Poet Laureate, students must be chosen as the Youth Poet Laureate at the state level or for their particular region. Umemezie already was selected for the Midwestern Laureate award which allowed him to compete for the National level. Umemezie describes it as a long process that requires a lot of work.

“We had to write an essay, complete a civics bracket, which is essentially a resume, and we had to write about 10 pages of poetry which came out to about seven poems for me. We also had a whole coaching period. There were about eight coaching times on Zoom.”

The commencement ceremony took place in Omaha at the Omaha Central Library. Around 300 people attended as the ceremony was open to the public. There were four finalists: Chloe Chou, Malaya Ulan, Rishi Janakiraman and Umemezie himself. 

Umemezie said that it was a great honor to become the National Youth Poet Laureate and the ceremony itself was incredible. As a child at around 8 years old, Umemezie began experimenting with poetry. At first it started as a hobby, it wasn’t till high school that his teacher Michelle Rathe recommended him to apply for more contests which really started his career regarding poetry.

“I wasn’t going to do it initially, but she pushed me saying that ‘I wrote really well,’ so I said sure why not?” Umemezie said. 

Umemezie at some point wants to earn a masters degree in fine arts and plans to keep writing regardless of where his life takes him.

“The biggest thing I want to do with this position is to bring more advocacy to youth voices and to underrepresented, minority communities. I also want to bring poetry to a more understood place. I feel like lots of people don’t know what poetry means and honestly it can mean a lot of things.”