by Evan Mantyk

A strange phenomenon in recent years, probably dating back to the mid 20th century and with roots in Whitman, is an aversion toward rhyme and meter in poetry among poetry establishments purporting to promote poetry and award good poetry.  It has now gotten to the point where poets are often specifically told something to the effect of “do not submit rhyming poetry.”

Given these circumstances, I have put together the list below of poetry contests still honoring and recognizing the beauty and value of traditional English poetry, which often contains rhyme and meter. 

The Society of Classical Poets is now offering a $2,000 prize for poems with meter and other traditional techniques such as rhyme. We are also offering a high school competition and a translation competition similarly valuing traditional poetry. 

Below are other contests awarding traditional poetry. If you have any to add or any comments on the below contests, please share the information in the comments section below.

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Poetry Contests

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10 Responses

  2. Mark F. Stone

    Each year, the Ohio Poetry Day Association sponsors a poetry competition. There are about 25 separate contests, for poems of different types or on different themes. All the contest have small cash prizes. One of the contests is for a sonnet. In 2021, the prizes for the sonnet contest were $50, $30 and $20. Other states may have something similar to this.

    Reply
  3. James A. Tweedie

    Evan,

    Please remove the Margaret Reid contest from your list. Without doing any research, I entered the contest some years ago and when I saw the winning entry I realized that the category, “Poem in a traditional style” (also referred to as “a poem that rhymes or has a traditional style”) is a complete joke and fraud, at least for poets who actually write such poetry. If you doubt my word, simply take a look at the poem awarded first prize in this category in 2018.

    https://winningwriters.com/past-winning-entries/villanelle-for-the-wound

    Reply
    • Mike Bryant

      James, it ain’t no villanelle… but ain’t it just so perfectly diverse?
      How could it not win?

      Reply
      • Lawrence Fray

        Further to the discussion on traditional poetry forms in contests, one wonders at the brief given to judges. I have several contests in which ‘all forms of poetry’ were welcome. Some time after stoically accepting that my work may not be up to standard, I developed the sneaky feeling that it was the entrance fee that was welcome rather than the carefully crafted, metrical verse on which I had laboured. On comparing my efforts against the winning poems, I thought that my work at least displayed craftsmanship.
        Perhaps the poetry they want chimes with the dumbed-down anti-culture of today—the more bizarre, the better.

  4. Toshiji Kawagoe

    Thank you for your helpful information.
    Another contest I know is Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest sponsored by Poets & Patrons Inc.
    Two categories (traditional and modern sonnets), entry fee is free and the 1st, the 2nd and the 3rd places are given cash prizes $50, $30 and $15 respectively.
    https://www.poetsandpatrons.net/sonnet-contest
    (But I only know the titles of the winners. So I cannot say its quality…)

    Reply

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