Words Unlocked Frees Student Expression of Boundaries

Joaquin Zihautanelo

It’s National Poetry Month, and once again, time for the Words Unlocked nationwide literary competition for young people in juvenile detention. The judges of the competition are Chelsea Clinton and R. Dwayne Betts, Josh Lefkowitz and Joaquin Zihautanelo. (An aside, I wasn’t familiar with Zihautenelo – and just spent 20 minutes listening to his words. Powerful! ) Student poets can submit their work for the competition April 14 through May 2.

This year’s theme is Boundaries, encouraging students to explore through poetry the boundaries that exist in their lives. Words Unlocked has curricular and instructional materials for a seven-day and a month-long unit in ActiveBoard, SmartBoard, Word and PowerPoint formats.


The readings include a number of the winning poems from last year’s competition, as well as poems written by the judges. There is a Words Unlocked Edmodo Group for teachers and additional resources, including a how-to guide for creating on-site poetry competitions, poetry anthologies, and links to a selection of Youtube instructional videos.

Words Unlocked is sponsored by the Center for Educational Excellence in Alternative Settings with their partners Young Chicago Artists and InsideOut Writers.