Awards
〰️ Honors 〰️
Performances 〰️
Awards 〰️ Honors 〰️ Performances 〰️
portfolio.
Awards & Honors
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International Poetry Slam between award-winning poets from The United Arab Emirates and nationally ranked poets from the United States.
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D.C. Scores recognized three teaching artists with exceptional dedication to online teaching during the 2020-2021 school year at the Annual SCORE AWARDS in Washington, D.C.
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Selected through a blind adjudication process conducted by an independent panel of highly accomplished artists, YoungArts winners receive financial awards, creative and professional development experiences working with renowned mentors, and become eligible for nomination as a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts.
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Each year, 60 high school students from across the United States are nominated for the Presidential Scholar in the Arts Award through a week long evaluation judged by internationally recognized professional artists.
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The D.C. Poet Laureate Program aims to identify powerful youth poets who have a history of artistic success, civic and community engagement, social justice, and leadership specifically in Washington, D.C. Selected applicants undergo an extensive interview process and perform competitively to be awarded Poet Laureate at The Kennedy Center.
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Judged by nationally acclaimed authors, competing poets include the top 5 international youth poetry slam teams from Brave New Voices alongside the D.C. Youth Slam Team, all individually competing for the Slam Champion title. *Sponsored by The Library of Congress.
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"Each year we take time to celebrate the poems visited most in The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database. Every list is a way to acknowledge what gets us through challenges, what guides us back to joy and resilience, what connects and affirms us so we continue to show up for one another. In 2020, these reminders are ever more essential. So, this month, we offer a new list of Top Poems each week." "2. "Learning My Name" By Marjan Naderi"
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Annual Muslim Youth Spoken Word competition with 100-250 competing writers from all over D.C., Maryland, and Virginia high schools. Winners go on to compete at the Annual National Muslim Interscholastic Tournament (M.I.S.T).
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Annual Poetry Slam inviting high school poets, writers, and performers from the Northern Virginia area. *Hosted by Split This Rock Youth Programs and the Hayfield Secondary School Poetry Club.
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Top 5 high school poetry slam teams in the D.C. metropolitan area compete annually at the Kennedy Center of Performing Arts.
Sponsored by Split This Rock Youth Programs and The Hayfield English Department
Slam Performances
Commercials
Interviews
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Articles 〰️
Podcasts 〰️
Radio 〰️
Interviews 〰️ Articles 〰️ Podcasts 〰️ Radio 〰️
featured news
“These pieces have become a living artifact demonstrating a journey of learning lineage as a first-generation, Afghan-Muslim American, hoping to belong on land that’s once rejected me,' she wrote. Naderi is proud of her heritage and of who she is - and it shows. Not just through her poetry, but also her expressions, anecdotes, & the way she embraces her culture in everything."
D.C. Trending
September 2022
Washington Post
The trees have eyes in Strathmore’s mesmerizing art installation ‘Monuments’
"The six artists and creators recognized in the Strathmore iteration of Monuments were selected by a panel, based on their impact in the local community."
"The faces of poet Marjan Naderi, left, and visual artist Terron Cooper Sorrells are projected onto trees in Strathmore’s outdoor art installation “Monuments: Creative Forces.”
February 21, 2025
August 26, 2021
Jonathan Wilson Show
"Afghanistan has been rocked by the departure of U.S. forces and the takeover by the Taliban in what’s quickly turned into a humanitarian crisis. In times of uncertainty and pain, poet Marjan Naderi says it can help to make space for humanity, something she does through her poetry."
Library of Congress
January 20, 2022
"Guest Michelle Stefano of the American Folklife Center discusses “Rhyming the Archive,” an event in which members of the poetry slam team Split This Rock wrote poems inspired by materials in the archive and performed them at an event at the Library of Congress. The poet Marjan Naderi reads her work “The Lessons My Mother Taught Me While Preparing Dinner.”
Washington Post
July 2021
Protestors return to the D.C. to vent and engage: This is not an instagram movement
"Others, such as Marjan Naderi, 18, spent their time distributing food, hand sanitizer, and water..."
“There is this weighing burden and struggle that the country is falling apart and that our closest loved ones are belittled and enchanted by trauma,” Naderi said. Marjan is an Afghan-American poet who recently published “Bloodline” on her experiences growing up as a child of two Afghan refugees. She experienced the Taliban resurgence through some of her family who still live in Afghanistan.
The Badger Herald
April 30, 2021
Stories of Transformation
October 13, 2022
"But for Marjan, the work was never about the accolades nor the attention; from the beginning, poetry was a tool which facilitated her own self-discovery, self-expression, and healing. She was able to channel her life’s trauma into her poetry, and in her performances, she magnifies the weight of her words through movement and body language."
Wisconsin Muslim
June 2021
A young poetry champion in the nation's capital
"When we detach ourselves from our work it’s no longer an independent narrative. Our work stretches out to serve the greater community,
“The poems we write will change nations, so long as we are given the platform,” Naderi said. “These youth poets are the future. We are writing history.
We are writing and creating and moving a part of the force. We are the force itself. We come and we bless.”
February 16, 2021
The D.C. Line
Kojo Namdi 88.5FM
January 22, 2020
"For the last five years, Words, Beats and Life Inc. has held a competition to decide which young person will represent D.C. as the District’s Youth Poet Laureate. The title comes with a book deal, performance tour and workshops with famous poets. For many poets, of all ages, the craft is much more than an art form. It’s a tool for educating their audiences about trauma or social woes and a means for personal healing.
TedXChevyChase
February 21, 2025
On Saturday, November 9th, at 2:30 PM, B-CC students, parents, and community members are invited to an official student-run, independently-organized TEDx event at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda, Maryland.
Cavalier Daily
Marjan Naderi, event coordinator, said it is important to educate others about the Islamic faith to promote mutual understanding and respect. “Being able to come close to the most misunderstood religion in the world is critical for the development of a complete citizen,” Naderi said.
“When people are able to have these opportunities to have their stereotypes and their preconceived notions challenged, not only makes the United States safer for Muslims, for Africans, but also opens a completely new branch of support.”