Poetry Contests

  WINNERS & RANKINGS The Great American Poetry Competition Judged by Andrew Benson Brown, Joseph Bottum, Margaret Coats, Evan Mantyk, Arthur Mortensen, Joshua Philipp, Mark F. Stone . Henry Longfellow Ode & Ballad Grand Prize Prize Winner ($1,500) Hymn – Joseph Charles Mackenzie   Finalists Tier 1 ($250) The Melody...

  FIRST PLACE   Her Matted Hair Based on “Daughter Dies Three Days After Admission to Prison for Practicing Falun Gong” by Maura H. Harrison For sixteen months, Ms. Chen remained detained. It was a crippling time, her body strained By torture and neglect. It left her weak And worsening....

  NOTE: Winners and rankings now available here: https://www.classicalpoets.org/winners-and-rankings-of-the-great-american-poetry-competition/ In partnership with the White House's Freedom 250 initiative. Submit Email a poem in celebration of America's 250th Anniversary to [email protected]. You may list a prize category, but you do not have to; we will put you in the best fit....

. The Contest Today in China peaceful Falun Gong practitioners are imprisoned, tortured, and killed by the communist regime simply because of their spiritual beliefs. It has also been uncovered that imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners are used as a living organ bank: they are killed on demand and their organs...

. The Best Poems of 2025: Winners of the 14th Annual SCP International Poetry Competition Judges C.B. Anderson, Susan Jarvis Bryant, Margaret Coats,  Evan Mantyk, Reid McGrath, Patricia Rogers Crozier, Joseph S. Salemi, Adam Sedia, James A. Tweedie, Brian Yapko Based on the poems, all written in 2025, excluding poems by judges,...

. First Place ($200 Prize) "The Color True" Advika Asthana, 10th grade, Davidson High School, Ohio . Second Place "Refrigerator Bird" "What She Wanted" Armaan Fatteh-Patil, 12th grade, American Heritage School, Florida . The following Third and Fourth Place winners and Honorable Mentions have been published here. . Third Place...

. 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...

. First Prize: $200. Publication in the Society's website and The Society of Classical Poets Journal. . Submission Fee: $5 (The fee comes with a free subscription to our monthly e-Newsletter.) . Submit: One poem on any topic after you pay the $5 submission fee. The poem should be no...

. The Best Haiku of 2025 The Winner and Runners-Up of the Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku Competition Judged by J. Thomas Rimer and Margaret Coats (see their remarks below) See all entries here . COMPETITION WINNER Pine shadow stretchesA spine on the grassy fieldUnobtrusively —Rifka Kaplan-Peck . .s HIGH DISTINCTION . aloha print...

. Radio New Zealand's Culture 101 sat down with SCP Editor Evan Mantyk to talk about the SCP's Haiku Competition, the SCP, and the history of the haiku. Listen here: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/culture-101/audio/2018994399/the-art-and-history-of-the-haiku . Original Haiku Featured in the Interview: . The cold lake shimmers Softly lapping on the shore Fifty years...

. WHO Anyone in the world, of any age or background, may participate (SCP Membership not required). Among members of the Society of Classical Poets, everyone including Advisory Board members may participate, if not involved in judging the contest. The winner, if not a U.S. resident, must have a PayPal...

. FIRST PLACE . Captured Souls by Twila Brase Seized by force, a mighty throng The captured souls of the Falun Gong. Intact for now, breathing still Only time is left to kill. Buyers vie for body parts Kidneys, livers, eyes, and hearts. From chopping block to bloody crate Execution...

. The Contest Know nothing or next to nothing about Falun Gong? Perfect! This poetry competition is for you! The Friends of Falun Gong Poetry Competition was founded to give people an opportunity to learn about just the Chinese Communist Party's horrendous treatment of peaceful Falun Gong practitioners. This is...

. The Best Poems of 2024: Winners of the 13th Annual SCP International Poetry Competition Judges C.B. Anderson, Susan Jarvis Bryant, Margaret Coats,  Evan Mantyk, Reid McGrath, James Sale, Joseph S. Salemi, Adam Sedia, James A. Tweedie, Brian Yapko Based on the poems, all written in 2024, excluding poems by judges, submitted...

. First Place ($200 Prize) "The Shepherd God" Jane Schulert, 11th grade student at Redeemer Classical School in Indiana . Second Place "To Speak Unique" Caroline Chen, 14-year-old in Irvine, California . The following Third and Fourth Place winners and Honorable Mentions have been published here. . Third Place "Splash...

. The Best Haiku of 2024 The Winner and Runners-Up of the Society of Classical Poets 2024 Haiku Competition Judged by J. Thomas Rimer and Margaret Coats (see their remarks below) See all entries here . COMPETITION WINNER . middle of winter— an old friend and I part ways before...

. "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...

. “Thou, in our wonder and astonishment, Hast built thyself a livelong monument.” —John Milton, “On Shakespeare” First Prize: $200. Publication in the Society's website and The Society of Classical Poets Journal. . Submission Fee: $5 (The fee comes with a free subscription to our monthly e-Newsletter.) . Submit: One...

. The Winner and Runner-ups are listed HERE. WHO Anyone in the world, of any age or background, may participate (SCP Membership not required). Among members of the Society of Classical Poets, everyone including Advisory Board members may participate, if not involved in judging the contest. The winner, if not...

. FIRST PLACE . Free to Be the PRC by James A. Tweedie According to the PRC’s unwritten protocol,To be Chinese these days it seems you can’t be Falun Gong.Your race or where you’re born no longer matter much at all.You have to be an atheist in order to belong....

. When Less Is More An SCP Poetry Challenge by James A. Tweedie In a recent email exchange with a poet friend, I found myself typing the following sentence: “Poetic forms, such as sonnet, etc. force poets to trim their words down to the minimum for maximum effect.” This raised...

. Epic poet and poetry video maker Andrew Benson Brown created a bit of excitement with his invented sonnet-haiku or haiku-sonnet published earlier this month---what poet Michael Pietrack has coined as "the sonku." It turns out that, unbeknownst to Benson Brown, this form was already invented by David Marshall over...

. The Best Poems of 2023: Winners of the 12th Annual SCP International Poetry Competition Judges Joseph S. Salemi, James Sale, Evan Mantyk, Sally Cook, James A. Tweedie, Susan Jarvis Bryant, Adam Sedia, C.B. Anderson, Reid McGrath Based on the poems, all written in 2023, excluding poems by judges, submitted...

. First Place ($200 Prize) "A Star" John Freeborn, Logos Online School, 12th grade student in Concordia, Kansas. . Second Place "Child's Laughter" Jane Schulert, 10th grade student at Redeemer Classical School in Indiana. “Petrarchan Sonnet for a Spring Day” Jane Schulert, 10th grade student at Redeemer Classical School in...

. Poet Paul A. Freeman challenges you to write a nursery rhyme in the style of the Mother Goose classic "Jack and Jill." Below is his model example. Post yours in the comments below. . Nigel Neath Nigel Neath lost all his teeth Through eating too much candy; He threw...

. One of England’s best-known poems, “Kubla Khan,” was written by Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). Waking from an Opium-induced dream, he was 55 lines into this epic when he was interrupted by a knock on the door. This poem would have been much longer if not for the...

. The 23 Best Haiku of 2023 Winner and Runners-up of the Society of Classical Poets 2023 Haiku Competition Judged by J. Thomas Rimer and Margaret Coats (see their remarks below) See all entrants here. . COMPETITION WINNER . . . Swallow, an arrow bursts across the burnished blue I cannot...

. Poets create marvels of linguistic delights about anything and everything… but what about nothing?  Can your Muse capture the essence of nothing? This could be the hardest challenge your Muse has ever faced!  I look forward to reading your take on the subject of "Nothing" in the comments section...

. Phil S. Rogers captured these photos of a roadrunner seeking relief in his sprinkler during drought-like conditions in Texas. Phil's ekphrastic poem is below. Add yours in the comments. . A Summer Shower One hundred four degrees today, __Texas is parched and charred, a lack of rain has baked...

. But the great Master said, "I see No best in kind, but in degree; I gave a various gift to each, To charm, to strengthen, and to teach." ---Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Singers" First Prize: $2,000. Publication on the Society's website and Journal. . Submission Fee: $20 (The fee...

. But the great Master said, “I see No best in kind, but in degree; I gave a various gift to each, To charm, to strengthen, and to teach.” —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Singers” First Prize: $200. Publication in the Society's website and The Society of Classical Poets Journal. ....

. Scenes of passion in literature, on the stage, and on the silver screen, have captivated audiences for years. How about spicing up some poetry with a soupçon of sauciness and savagery (tastefully done, of course). Choose a scene of fevered passion from a favorite novel, play, or film, bring...

. WHO Anyone in the world, of any age or background, may participate. Among members of the Society of Classical Poets, everyone including Advisory Board members may participate, if not involved in judging the contest. The winner, if not a U.S. resident, must have a PayPal account or a bank...

. SCP Poet Cynthia Erlandson of Michigan has won the 2023 Maria W. Faust Sonnet Competition.  Her sonnet, "Fire and Ice," is a Top Four prize winner, which is the highest designation in the contest.  A Zoom reading will take place this Saturday, July 15th, 12 pm noon (EST), and...

. Congratulations to SCP Poet Monika Cooper who took First Place in the 2023 Annual Sacred Poetry Contest held by Catholic Literary Arts. See details here: https://www.catholicliteraryarts.org/2023-poetry There will be "a virtual Celebration of Winners and Finalists," on Tuesday June 6 at 7 p.m. CST (that's 8 p.m. EST) including...

. Classical Poets Live with Andrew Benson Brown Episode 3: Embrace the Epic, Not the Opaque If you enjoy this video, please like and subscribe on YouTube to support the production. . Podcast on Spotify: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/PW0LljpabAb Podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/classical-poets-live/id1685283102 . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMBAsu3BkqA . .

. FIRST PLACE . Tooth and Claw a pantoum by Susan Jarvis Bryant Observe the tooth and claw of savage deed. Beware the ferric breath of looming dread. Don’t let the taunt of terror sow its seed— The heartless reap a harvest seeping red. Beware the ferric breath of looming dread On ill winds wafting from a shady shore. The heartless reap a harvest seeping red— The truth is leaking neath the Dragon’s door. On ill winds wafting from a shady shore Ghosts whisper of the fate of Falun Gong. The truth is leaking neath the Dragon’s door...

. Whatfinger Poetry Contest Judged by Mike Bryant . FIRST PLACE . Untitled by Damian Robin Support the online enterprisethat picks the brave from molten lies,that fields the small heroic actsand hits the twists of woken ‘facts’.It shines a light on broken bendsand soaks the fires from token ‘friends’.A worthy...

. In celebration of World Poetry Day, write a limerick on the theme of World Poetry Day, poetry in general, or poets. Post it in the comments section below. Learn how to write a limerick here. An example is provided by this poetry challenge initiator, Paul A. Freeman: . World...

. ABOUT THE CONTEST Many poets who have been published by the Society of Classical Poets have had their poems linked to, and therefore promoted, by the news aggregator Whatfinger over the years. The people who put this grass-roots site together are genuinely interested in truth and justice despite being...