2020 Poetry Translation Competition

“But with the true poet every thing is terse, touching, or brilliant. He gives the choicest thoughts in the choicest language. He illustrates them by everything that he sees most striking in nature and art.”

—Washington Irving (1783-1859), “Mutability of Literature”

First Prize:

$100. Publication on the Society’s website and Journal.

Submission Fee:

None

Submit:

Email translations to submissions@classicalpoets.org. Translations should not exceed 108 lines. Translated poetry should be from the Romantic period or earlier. Translations should be metered. Include the poem in its original language.. Rhyme and other traditional techniques are encouraged as well, but not required. (To learn how to write poetry with meter, see a brief beginner’s guide on common iambic meter here or a more elaborate beginner’s guide to many kinds of meter here.)

Deadline:

December 31, 2019, 11:59 p.m. EST. Winners announced February 1, 2020 on our e-Newsletter and on the Society’s homepage.

Judges:

Evan Mantyk, editor of The Society of Classical Poets Journal and website

Who May Participate?

Anyone from any country of any background. If you are outside the United States, you would need to have a PayPal account to receive the prize money should you win First Place.

Additional Details

The translation should be done in 2019. It may be previously published. Simultaneous submissions are accepted.

Past First Place winners and the Society’s executive staff and editors are prohibited from participating.

You do not have to be a Member of the Society to participate.

You will retain ownership of your submitted translation. By submitting it to the Society for publication or for inclusion in the contest, you give the Society permission to possibly publish it online on this website or in the Society of Classical Poets Journal, but we would not be able to sell your individual poem on its own or have any further rights over it beyond these forums. You could publish it anywhere else or sell it to any publication as desired. The first step in publishing is to have it published on the Society’s homepage and we will check with you first to confirm if we have your permission to do so. At that time you may indicate that we do or do not. Alternatively, when submitting you may add a note stating “do not publish if not a winner.”

Past Winners

2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013

Poetry Writing Resources

Guides

• • “Freeware Prosody” by Expansive Poetry Online
  • How to Write Classical Poetry by the Society of Classical Poets
  • “How to Write Poetry with Meter” by Dusty Grein
  • “The Hard Edges of  a Poem” by Joseph S. Salemi
  • The Prosody Handbook: A Guide to Poetic Form by Robert Beum and Karl Shapiro
  • Writing Metrical Poetry by William Baer

Poetry Forms

• • Haiku
  • Limerick
  • Rondeau
  • Rubaiyat
  • Sestina
  • Sonnet
  • Terza Rima
  • Villanelle

Great Poetry

Ten Greatest Poems
Ten Greatest Love Poems
Ten Greatest Poems about Death

CODEC Stories: