2025 NaPo Recap
^Word Cloud of NaPo 2025 Thread Titles from wordclouds.com
The season of poetry comes every April to the Young Writers Society and is one of the most lively, creative, beautiful and fun-filled seasons of them all! This year the forum fields were filled with poetry blooming and our community rising up to share encouragement every day. It was a wonderful month, because of all of you! Here's some of the highlights:
Our grand totals this year for participation - we had 58 participants, 61 threads, 956 total poems were written! Very strangely 956 is the exact same number of poems that were written in 2023's NaPo! This year 13 poets completing "Poem A Day" - that is wonderful! We had a few participants who decided 30 wasn't nearly enough for the month! @Avian wrote 45 poems and @eulogy some how managed to write 181 poems breaking the previous record held by @NewHope of 160 poems.
Thank you to our wonderful Poetry Crew Staff that managed the organization, planning, and support of this event: @Meshugenah, @Plume, @EllieMae (our editor of The Orchard for 2025!), @Quillfeather (organizer of the 2025 April Madness!), @Que (host of our NaPo Prep Challenge, @milkweed (organizer of NaPo Buddies!), and @Avian! And a huge thank you to all who supported each other throughout the month with warm comments for your fellow poets!
To comment on the thread themes... this year there were threads about new beginnings and fresh starts, threads about dreaming beyond and above - from sun-sets, rain-bows, and the light of tomorrow, we traced roots of evergreen trees and gardens, and held our bravery against our fears and the monsters in the mirror. We made an escape plan and to the tune of wedding vows and our favorite songs continued onward to the light!
Here's some of our distinguished award winners (if you think you earned a badge, but did not receive one, please PM a Poetry Crew Member) - congratulations all around! And thank you to @Quillfeather and @alliyah for designing the badges this year.
Writing Poems - Finding Fruit
Plowing the Fields (5+ poems)
@NovemberCrow @Wolfi @milkweed @Lullaby @Dossereana @twiggy @EllieMae @Euphory @soundofmind @Hkumar @WeepingWisteria @Buranko @GengarTheGhost @yoshi @luxeterna @Rook @flowersforpath
Fresh Bounty (15+ poems)
@alliyah @LadySpark @theromanticchemist @niteowl @JazzicusMaximus @fatherfig @syzygy @Ventomology @ToastK @Apricity
Full Harvest (winners cultivated 30+ poems during the month of April - that's a lot of fruit!)
@Leya @Youbeaucupid @SkaterChicken67 @LuminescentAnt @TheSilverFox
@FireEyes @Youbeaucupid @Quillfeather @Roxanne @eulogy @Avian @Meshugenah @Que @Spearmint @winterwolf0100
Poem-A-Day Champion (wrote at least 1 poem every single day of the month - quite a discipline and achievement!)
@Leya @Youbeaucupid @SkaterChicken67 @LuminescentAnt @TheSilverFox
@FireEyes @Youbeaucupid @Quillfeather @eulogy @Avian @Spearmint @Meshugenah @winterwolf0100
Community Awards - Tending Gardens
Full Barnyard
@Liminality @alliyah @Wolfi @Quillfeather @Meshugenah @Avian
Barnyard Jamboree
@NovemberCrow @alliyah @Quillfeather @Meshugenah @avimoon @FireEyes
Contests - Best in Show
PCrewPick Recipient (chosen by members of the Poetry Crew and logged in the NaPo Hall of Fame)
@Dossereana @theromanticchemist @syzygy @candyhearts @Avian @niteowl @WeepingWisteria @winterwolf0100 @Ventomology @luxeterna @eulogy @Apricity @Youbeaucupid @Lullaby @GengarTheGhost @Euphory @Leya @ToastK @fatherfig
ThePeoplesPick Recipient (chosen by YWSers with the hashtag #ThePeoplesPick - a special shoutout to @/Avian who made a notable effort in giving many of these shoutouts throughout the month! Congrats poets!)
@Youbeaucupid @SkaterChicken67 @alliyah @Quillfeather @Roxanne @Que @SilverNight @ToastK @Spearmint @winterwolf0100 @luxeterna @Hkumar @Euphory @Meshugenah @candyhearts @TheSilverFox @eulogy @avimoon @Lullaby @EllieMae @Avian @keystrings @LuminescentAnt @FireEyes @Apricity
April Madness Finalists
From 20 initial competitors the judges narrowed down the competition to two finalists: @Euphory who submitted her poem a womb as the gravity of a home and @candyhearts who submitted her poem interstice. Intriguingly both these final poems faced off with similar themes of the divine and the earthly, bodily-imagery, maternal musings, and specifically poetic exploration of the womb.
Ultimately, candyhearts poem was declared the April Madness Winner of this year's competition! Thank you to Quillfeather and her team of judges for organizing this fun contest and a big congrats to candy on your win!
Congratulations to all of our 2025 NaPo Participants! Thank you for sharing your poetry!
2025 Other NaPo Links
2025 NaPo Info Thread
2025 Badge Information
April Madness 2025
NaPo Prep Challenge 2025