Note:
Winners of this contest can be found here. We have begun a new high school poetry contest here.
“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 in the Society’s website and Journal.
Submission Fee:
None
Submit:
One to three poems on any topic. All together, the poems should total 108 lines or less. Email as a Word file or in the email body to [email protected]. Put “High School Poetry Contest” in the subject line of the email. Include your grade level and high school name.
Poems must contain meter. Counting the number of syllables and ensuring there are a similar number in each line is sufficient. (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?
Any high school student, or anyone ages 13 to 19, 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 poem should be written in 2019. They may be previously published. Simultaneous submissions are accepted.
Past First Place winners 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, 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 Alternatively, when submitting you may add a note stating “do not publish if not a winner.”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
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- “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
Great Poetry
Ten Greatest Poems
Ten Greatest Love Poems
Ten Greatest Poems about Death
Good poem but I’ll like to enter for 2020
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I want to enter
Are shorter poems more likely to win than longer ones?
Are shorter poems more likely to be published than longer ones?