"The Muses Urania and Calliope" by Simon VouetRecommended Poetry Contests of 2020 The Society February 8, 2020 Education, From the Society, Poetry Contests 5 Comments Better Than Starbucks Sonnet Contest Accepting Submissions Beginning: October 1, 2020 Deadline: December 1, 2020 Top Prize: $100 Submission Fee: None Better Than Starbucks has confirmed that its sonnet contest will be held again this year. No new website is currently up, but last year’s site states here, “This contest is for a metrical sonnet. Your sonnet can be shakespearean, petrarchan, spenserian, rhymed, or slant-rhymed. Blank verse is fine, as long as the sonnet form is clearly identifiable. We’ll consider tetrameter, hexameter, etc. as well as pentameter. Some metrical variation is fine, but don’t forget the volta!” Last year’s winners can be found here. Conservative Theater Festival Accepting Submissions Now Deadline: September 1, 2020 Top Prize: Production of Your Work Submission Fee: $10 Stage Right Theatrics is a fearless leader in the field of theater touting conservative values and traditional aesthetics. While this does not officially involve a contest or poetry, it essentially functions like a contest and a play can of course incorporate poetry (as plays traditional have). Submit a work of no more than 20 minutes in length, with no more than 4-5 characters, minimal set pieces and lighting requirements, and a conservative theme. More details here. More on how Stage Right defines conservative here. More on Robert Cooperman, the judge, here. Donald Justice Poetry Prize Accepting Submissions Now Deadline: February 15, 2020 (in case you miss it, don’t worry, this an annual contest) Prize: $1,500 and publication of manuscript Submission Fee: $25 The competition description states: “The Justice Award welcomes unpublished, original book-length collections of poems that pay attention to form for consideration in the competition.” “The annual competition is open to all American poets regardless of whether they have previously published a book-length collection. The manuscript should be between 50-100 typed pages.” Details and last year’s winning poem can be found here. FoFG Poetry Contest (Adult, College, and High School Levels) Accepting Submissions Beginning: January 1, 2020 Deadline: April 30, 2020 Top Prizes: Adult $500. College $250. High School $100. All who place receive publication. Other cash prizes also awarded. Submission Fee: None There are no basic human rights in communist China and yet the Chinese communist regime is growing in its power to influence the world. This contest is a great way to learn about peaceful Falun Gong practitioners persecuted in China, write about them, and take a stand against the regime. See details, including past winners, here. Frost Farm Prize for Metrical Poetry Accepting Submissions Now Deadline: March 30, 2020 Top Prize: $1,000, invitation to read at Robert Frost Farm in June. Submission Fee: $6 per poem “Poems must be original, unpublished and metrical (any metrical form).” Details for the contest as well as last year’s winning sestina by David Southward can be read here. Mr. Southward has notable poetry on his website as well, here. Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest Now Accepting Submissions Deadline: June 1, 2020 Top Prize: Top three winners will each receive $250. Submission Fee: $5 (for up to three sonnets) The contest indicates “Sonnets may be written in Shakespearean, Spenserian, Petrarchan or Non-Traditional rhyme schemes, but each must be in the fourteen line, iambic pentameter form… Only previously unpublished sonnets are eligible.” Find contest details here. The 2019 winners of the contest can be found here. Myong Cha Son Haiku Award (undergraduate American students only) Accepting Submissions Now Deadline: February 15, 2020 (in case you miss it, don’t worry, this an annual contest) Prize: $1,500 (runner-up: $500) Submission Fee: None The competition description states: “Created by Kyle R. Spencer, and named for his mother-in-law, the award welcomes unpublished, original haiku.” Details and last year’s winning poem can be found here. “Putting Chaos Into 14 Lines” Sonnet Contest (Individual and Crown Awards) Accepting Submissions Now Deadline: December 20, 2020 Top Prizes: $500 for an individual sonnet. $500 for a sonnet crown. Submission Fee: $3 per sonnet, $15 for sonnet crown (seven sonnets linked by a theme, more on sonnet crowns here) Winner will be invited to read the pieces at the May 2020 Poetry by the Sea Conference. Traditional sonnets are welcomed. See details here. The final judge will be Julie Kane. Read sonnets written by her here and here. Haiku Contest Accepting Submissions Beginning: Now Deadline: August 8, 2020 Prize: $100 Submission Fee: None Write a haiku on any topic and post it in the comments section below. The haiku must adhere to the traditional parameters of a haiku to qualify. See details here. Society of Classical Poets (SCP) 9th Annual Poetry Competition Accepting Submissions Beginning: September 1, 2020 Deadline: December 31, 2020 Top Prize: $1,000, Publication in Society’s Journal. Submission Fee: $10 The Society of Classical Poets is leading the way in reviving poetry with meter, rhyme, and other traditional techniques. Poets may submit in any genre or theme, but submissions should be metered. Submit one to three poems totaling 108 lines or less. The competition website is here. SCP High School Poetry Competition Accepting Submissions Beginning: September 1, 2020 Deadline: December 31, 2020 Top Prize: $100, Publication in Society’s Journal. Submission Fee: $5 The Society of Classical Poets is leading the way in reviving poetry with meter, rhyme, and other traditional techniques. Poets may submit in any genre or theme, but submissions should attempt meter (more on meter here and here). Submit one to three poems totaling 50 lines or less. The competition website is available here. SCP Poetry Translation Competition Accepting Submissions Beginning: September 1, 2020 Deadline: December 31, 2020 Top Prize: $100, Publication in Society’s Journal. Submission Fee: None The Society of Classical Poets seeks original translations of poems from the Romantic period or earlier (approximately 1870 or earlier). Meter, rhyme, and other traditional techniques are encouraged in the translations. Submit one to three translations totaling 108 lines or less. The competition website is here. Email [email protected] to have a contest considered for inclusion in the above list or to update information. Use the subject line “Recommended List.” NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Trending now: 5 Responses Aky March 17, 2020 hi, notify me of the contest Reply The Society May 5, 2020 A coronavirus limerick contest worth noting: https://onthepremises.submittable.com/submit/165115/otp-mini-contest-45-limerick-for-2020 To quote: Premise: Life isn’t much fun right now, anywhere in the world. The pandemic has touched everybody to some degree. Wrap up how you feel about life today–the good, the bad, the ugly, the inspiring, the awful, the funny, the not funny–and because this is a contest challenge, send it to us in the form of a limerick. The limerick doesn’t have to be funny, but it does have to evoke thoughts and feelings in us like everything else we ask of you. For those of you who want to take political themes, please remember our audience is literally world-wide, though it definitely leans Western. Still, jokes requiring a deep understanding of the Hong Kong anti-China protests or some of the subtler points of Brexit might not translate for all of our thousands of readers, so aim for a broad audience. May 23rd deadline. Reply Alana K. Asby June 28, 2020 Here’s one for homeschoolers, and others alternatively schooled, both youth and adults. Our contest accepts both poetry and stories, and our organization prefers and promotes “musical poetry;” i.e. rhyming or alliterative; rhythmic or metrical. https://www.vulgarismedia.com/writing-contest Reply Arlene Downing-Yaconelli August 2, 2020 sultry summer hum white hives buzz in the orchard winter’s honeyed toast bits of red and green punctuate the scrap-strewn floor Christmas on the way September portraits art in squiggly colored lines refrigerated Reply annie smith August 4, 2020 So many spend most of each day dancing around what they mean to say. Hammers shatter glass, windows, doors and ceilings, but smiles can shatter walls. How much can a toad evolve if he never leaves his home in the mud? A woman is the gateway between the spirit and physical worlds. Once a house is burned, no one has the power to snatch it from the air. Reply Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Notify me of follow-up comments by email. 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The Society May 5, 2020 A coronavirus limerick contest worth noting: https://onthepremises.submittable.com/submit/165115/otp-mini-contest-45-limerick-for-2020 To quote: Premise: Life isn’t much fun right now, anywhere in the world. The pandemic has touched everybody to some degree. Wrap up how you feel about life today–the good, the bad, the ugly, the inspiring, the awful, the funny, the not funny–and because this is a contest challenge, send it to us in the form of a limerick. The limerick doesn’t have to be funny, but it does have to evoke thoughts and feelings in us like everything else we ask of you. For those of you who want to take political themes, please remember our audience is literally world-wide, though it definitely leans Western. Still, jokes requiring a deep understanding of the Hong Kong anti-China protests or some of the subtler points of Brexit might not translate for all of our thousands of readers, so aim for a broad audience. May 23rd deadline. Reply
Alana K. Asby June 28, 2020 Here’s one for homeschoolers, and others alternatively schooled, both youth and adults. Our contest accepts both poetry and stories, and our organization prefers and promotes “musical poetry;” i.e. rhyming or alliterative; rhythmic or metrical. https://www.vulgarismedia.com/writing-contest Reply
Arlene Downing-Yaconelli August 2, 2020 sultry summer hum white hives buzz in the orchard winter’s honeyed toast bits of red and green punctuate the scrap-strewn floor Christmas on the way September portraits art in squiggly colored lines refrigerated Reply
annie smith August 4, 2020 So many spend most of each day dancing around what they mean to say. Hammers shatter glass, windows, doors and ceilings, but smiles can shatter walls. How much can a toad evolve if he never leaves his home in the mud? A woman is the gateway between the spirit and physical worlds. Once a house is burned, no one has the power to snatch it from the air. Reply