Loudoun Community Press

LCPS, through participation in the USDA Summer Food Service Program, will be providing free meals this summer for all students ages 18 and younger throughout Loudoun County. For important information about the summer meals program for this year, go to: https://lcps.pub/4viz6W3

Now open! Creative Communities Project Fund.

The Creative Communities Project Fund is now offering grants of up to $1,000 to support creative projects in the arts and literary arts led by young people. This fund is intended to support a more inclusive and vibrant community in Loudoun County. The application will remain open through August 15, 2026 and awardees will be announced by September 30, 2026.

Apply here: https://loudouncommunitypress.org/

Jasmine Arisandy has been named the 2026 Loudoun Youth Poet Laureate for the 2026 Loudoun Youth Poet Laureate Program (LYPL). Additionally, the Loudoun Youth Poet Ambassadors include: Amanda-Pearl
Omoigui, Gia Mehta, Rebecca King, Pranavi Chilukuri, Nishant Varala, and Tvisha Seelam.

The winner of the 2026 Loudoun Youth Poet Laureate Program received a $1,000 scholarship and publication of their poetry with the National Youth Poet Laureate Program. Arlington Poet Laureate Emerita Holly Karaptakova hosted the commencement and served as a judge. Virginia Senator Kannan Srinivasan, Supervisor Laura TeKrony, and Margaret Banks of the Virginia Poetry Society served as program judges and made remarks at the commencement.

Thank you to the Loudoun Times-Mirror for featuring the Loudoun Youth Poet Laureate Program during National Poetry Month and shining a light on the importance of youth arts and storytelling in our community.

Loudoun Youth Poet Laureate program is building a community of writers Now in its second year, the Loudoun County Youth Poet Laureate program seeks to build a community of writers and critical thinkers in the literary arts community, according to the

The Loudoun Youth Poet Laureate Program, sponsored by Loudoun Community Press and the National Youth Poet Laureate Program, is excited to introduce its 2026 Panel of Judges. Next, we introduce Supervisor Laura A. TeKrony, who was elected to represent the Little River District on the Board of Supervisors in November 2023.

She serves on the Board of Supervisors' Joint Board and School Board Committee and the Transportation and Land Use Committee. She is one of Loudoun's representatives on the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' (COG) Board of Directors and serves on COG's Chesapeake Bay and Water Resources Policy Committee and the Food and Agriculture Regional Member Policy Committee. She is also one of Loudoun's representatives on the Coalition of Loudoun Towns.

Supervisor TeKrony has demonstrated her belief in the value of public service through her volunteer work, including being involved with the parent-teacher associations at her children’s schools, serving on the Aldie Heritage Association Board of Directors and being appointed to serve on two Loudoun County advisory boards – the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Board and the Heritage Commission.

Supervisor TeKrony grew up on a farm in Hopewell, New Jersey. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Bucknell University and a master’s degree in marketing from Fordham University. She lives in Aldie, where she and her husband have raised their three daughters. We thank Supervisor TeKrony for serving our region as a Loudoun Youth Poet Laureate Judge!

The Loudoun Youth Poet Laureate Program, sponsored by Loudoun Community Press and the National Youth Poet Laureate Program, is excited to introduce its 2026 Panel of Judges. Next, we introduce Senator Kannan Srinivasan who represents Virginia Senate District 32, covering Eastern Loudoun County. Before his election to the State Senate, he made history as the first Indian American immigrant to serve in the Virginia House of Delegates. Senator Srinivasan moved to Virginia in 1992 to pursue a master’s in accounting at Old Dominion University after earning chartered accountancy certification in India.

Loudoun County has been home to him and his wife, Jayashree, for more than 26 years. With over three decades of experience in finance and business analytics at NEW/Asurion and recently with the Chef Jose Andres Restaurant group, Senator Srinivasan brings practical, results-driven leadership to Richmond. As the former Chair of the Virginia State Medicaid Board, he helped expand healthcare coverage to 2 million Virginians. He continues to serve his community through board positions at the George Washington University Heart & Vascular Institute and the Loudoun Free Clinic.

A dedicated public servant, Senator Srinivasan champions innovative solutions to advance excellence in education, government transparency, and comprehensive healthcare reform while advocating for policies that uplift all Virginia families. As Senator, he serves on the Transportation, Privileges & Elections, Local Government, & Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources committees and is appointed to the National Conference of Legislatures Health & Transportation committees.

The Loudoun Youth Poet Laureate Program, sponsored by Loudoun Community Press and the National Youth Poet Laureate Program, is excited to introduce its 2026 Panel of Judges. Next, we introduce Margaret Banks is a lifelong poetry lover and writer from North Carolina. Her poetry has placed in the Virginia Poetry Society annual contests, including publication in the 2023 anthology. She graduated with Honors in English and Creative Writing at UNC Chapel Hill. She has worked as a technical writer, technical editor, and afterschool teacher, and currently works in nonprofit science education. She loves astronomy, trees, and science fiction. We thank Margaret for serving our region as a Loudoun Youth Poet Laureate Judge!

The Loudoun Youth Poet Laureate Program, sponsored by Loudoun Community Press and the National Youth Poet Laureate Program, is excited to introduce its 2026 Panel of Judges. Next, we introduce Holly Karapetkova, who is Poet Laureate Emerita of Arlington County and the recipient of a 2022 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship. She is the author of two books of poetry, Words We Might One Day Say, winner of the 2010 Washington Writers’ Publishing House Poetry Award, and Towline, winner of the 2016 Vern Rutsala Poetry Contest from Cloudbank Books. Her third book, Dear Empire, was recently selected as co-winner of the 2024 Barry Spacks Poetry Prize and is forthcoming from Gunpowder Press. She is also the author of over 20 books for children. She serves on the board of Washington Writers’ Publishing House, the oldest continually operating nonprofit cooperative press in the United States, and is an editor at Mid-Atlantic Review. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing and a PhD in English and Comparative Literature and teaches at Marymount University in Arlington, VA. We thank Holly for serving our region as a Loudoun Youth Poet Laureate Judge!

The Loudoun Youth Poet Laureate Program, sponsored by Loudoun Community Press and the National Youth Poet Laureate Program, is excited to introduce its 2026 Panel of Judges. First, we introduce Elizabeth Crumpler, who is a high school English teacher in her fourth year of teaching at Briar Woods High School. She studied English and Secondary English Education at Penn State where she was a staff member for Penn State's Undergraduate Literary Magazine. Elizabeth is currently working towards her Master's in English at George Mason University. She loves Jane Austen, nature, and music. We thank Elizabeth for serving our region as a Loudoun Youth Poet Laureate Judge!

We are excited to announce that the Loudoun Community Press Literary Anthology, 25-26 Edition, will be released in mid-2026. Please follow the guidelines listed below. There is no limit to the number of pieces you can submit; however, the final selection process is selective.

What we will accept: Any print art piece, photography, poems, short stories, personal narratives, personal essays, academic essays, and creative nonfiction pieces. Please ensure that you upload a PDF of the submission, naming the PDF file according to the title of the work.

*Please only submit one form per submission. There is no limit to the number of things a person can submit. If you are submitting two pieces that go together, please specify in the "comment" section at the bottom of each form the titles of the related pieces.

Please email: [email protected] with any questions!

- Word limit for writing pieces: 1000 words

- Be a Loudoun high school student (students may attend private school or be homeschooled)

- Be willing to have your work published in a literary anthology, among other student pieces

- Must align with our theme of "Timeless Perspectives" (an anthology of pieces that center around the nostalgia we feel, the uncertainties the future holds, and the present we live in, building pages of timeless accounts and global perspectives)

Once you are selected, you will be emailed recommendations for editing. You will receive the exact details of the due date for the chosen edits once.

The deadline for submitting this contest is December 15th at 11:59 p.m. EST.

(Put "LCP Writing/Art Contest question" for the subject line)ons!
(put "LCP Writing/Art Contest question" for the subject line)

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe2sR-i0WVlSaP-_N556G0lWf23oJuHhC6iEYevlFHhSJK8MQ/viewform