"Throwing the Discus" by DantanThe 2024 Society of Classical Poets International Poetry Competition The Society August 31, 2024 Poetry, Poetry Contests 2 Comments . “Thou, in our wonder and astonishment, Hast built thyself a livelong monument.” —John Milton, “On Shakespeare” First Prize: $2,000. Publication on the Society’s website and Journal. . Submission Fee: $20 (The fee comes with a free subscription to our monthly e-Newsletter.) . Submit: One to three poems on any topic. Altogether, the poems should total 108 lines or less. First click here to pay the submission fee, then email as a Word file or in the email body to submissions@classicalpoets.org. Put “Poetry Contest Submission” in the subject line of the email. Poems must contain meter (beginners and students may simply count syllables). 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. See a guide to poetry forms here.) You may alternatively mail a check made out to the Society of Classical Poets to Evan Mantyk, Society of Classical Poets. Email submissions@classicalpoets.org for mailing address. You may pay up to $60 and send in up to three separate submissions. . Deadline: December 31, 2024, 11:59 p.m. EST. Winners announced February 1, 2025 on our e-Newsletter and on the Society’s homepage. (Annual submission dates Sept. 1 – Dec. 31.) . High School Prize: $200. See details here. . Judges: C.B. Anderson Susan Jarvis Bryant Margaret Coats Sally Cook Evan Mantyk Reid McGrath James Sale Joseph S. Salemi Adam Sedia James A. Tweedie Brian Yapko . Read about the Competition Judges here. . 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 Poems should be written in 2024. They may be previously published. Simultaneous submissions are accepted. Past First Place winners and the Society’s executive staff are prohibited from participating. You do not have to be a Member of the Society to participate. You will retain ownership of your submitted poetry. By submitting it to the Society for publication or for inclusion in the contest, should it rank among winners or receive an honorable mention, you give the Society permission to publish it online on this website, in the Society of Classical Poets Journal, and in publications promoting the SCP’s mission or this annual contest, but the SCP would not be able to sell your individual poem on its own or have any further rights over it beyond these purposes. You could publish it anywhere else or sell it to any publication as desired. You can enter up to three submissions, each containing one to three poems, not exceeding 108 lines in total per submission. Each submission requires the standard entry fee of $20. . Past Winners 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 . Poetry Writing Resources A Simple Guide to Forms and Examples from the Society of Classical Poets “Freeware Prosody” by Expansive Poetry Online How to Write Classical Poetry by the Society of Classical Poets “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 . . 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. CODEC Stories: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) 2 Responses John Raguz September 1, 2024 I don’t understand when you say the poem had to have been written in 2024. Does that mean If I wrote a poem in 2022 I can’t submit it? How about a poem I’ve submitted to other contests in 2022 or 2023 that have not won, can I resubmit them.? Do I have to be a member to submit my work, and if so how do I become a member? I hope this is the right forum to lodge my questions. All the best John Raguz Reply The Society September 3, 2024 Dear John Raguz, If you keep reading the Additional Details above you will see that you don’t have to be a Member to participate. Of course, we encourage everyone to join and support the revival of traditional poetry (with meter and often rhyme), but that is up to you: https://classicalpoets.org/join-the-society/ Without being a Member, you can still read and comment on poems, participate in contests, receive our e-newsletter, and submit poems for consideration. With Membership, you can get feedback from the Editor on your poems, connect with other poets, have an additional qualification, and help support the SCP. The purpose of the contest is to spur the creation of new and great works of poetry. Therefore, every year we hold it and require that poetry be from that year. That is the spirit and meaning behind this requirement. However, it may be the case that you have been working on a poem, let’s say written in 2022, and you revised it in 2024 and want to submit it. As long as a mostly similar version of the same poem has not been published anywhere else in print or online before 2024, then it qualifies. Let’s say you are using exactly the same poem from a 2022 contest in a 2024 contest. We are not going to exhaustively investigate the timeline of people’s poems, and you will have to make your own judgment. Officially, we expect these to be new poems and if someone were to challenge your win, should you win, with evidence that it was not written in 2024, then you should probably take that into consideration. I hope this helps. Regards, Evan Mantyk SCP Editor Reply Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Captcha loading...In order to pass the CAPTCHA please enable JavaScript. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
John Raguz September 1, 2024 I don’t understand when you say the poem had to have been written in 2024. Does that mean If I wrote a poem in 2022 I can’t submit it? How about a poem I’ve submitted to other contests in 2022 or 2023 that have not won, can I resubmit them.? Do I have to be a member to submit my work, and if so how do I become a member? I hope this is the right forum to lodge my questions. All the best John Raguz Reply
The Society September 3, 2024 Dear John Raguz, If you keep reading the Additional Details above you will see that you don’t have to be a Member to participate. Of course, we encourage everyone to join and support the revival of traditional poetry (with meter and often rhyme), but that is up to you: https://classicalpoets.org/join-the-society/ Without being a Member, you can still read and comment on poems, participate in contests, receive our e-newsletter, and submit poems for consideration. With Membership, you can get feedback from the Editor on your poems, connect with other poets, have an additional qualification, and help support the SCP. The purpose of the contest is to spur the creation of new and great works of poetry. Therefore, every year we hold it and require that poetry be from that year. That is the spirit and meaning behind this requirement. However, it may be the case that you have been working on a poem, let’s say written in 2022, and you revised it in 2024 and want to submit it. As long as a mostly similar version of the same poem has not been published anywhere else in print or online before 2024, then it qualifies. Let’s say you are using exactly the same poem from a 2022 contest in a 2024 contest. We are not going to exhaustively investigate the timeline of people’s poems, and you will have to make your own judgment. Officially, we expect these to be new poems and if someone were to challenge your win, should you win, with evidence that it was not written in 2024, then you should probably take that into consideration. I hope this helps. Regards, Evan Mantyk SCP Editor Reply
