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 poem on any topic. The poem should not be more than 108 lines. First click here to pay the submission fee, then email as a Word file or in the email body to [email protected]. You may pay up to five entry fees and submit up to five poems. 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 [email protected] for mailing address.
Deadline:
December 31, 2026, 11:59 p.m. EST. Winners announced February 1, 2027 on our e-Newsletter and on the Society’s homepage. (Annual submission dates Sept. 1 – Dec. 31.)
High School Prize:
$250. See details here.
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Judges:
C.B. Anderson
Andrew Benson Brown
Patricia Rogers Crozier
Evan Mantyk
Reid McGrath
Josh Olson
Joseph S. Salemi
Adam Sedia
James A. Tweedie
Brian Yapko
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Read about the Competition Judges here.
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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.
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Additional Details
Poems should be written in 2026. 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.
The SCP Editor may prohibit any poet from participating if the Editor feels that poet’s participation will undermine the mission of the SCP. Any entry fees paid will be refunded.
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Past Winners
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
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Poetry Writing Resources
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- 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
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What is the maximum number of poems we can submit? Under the topic “Submit:” the maximum number is five, but the last paragraph of “Additional Details” states three submissions of one to three poems per submission.
Dear Mary,
You can submit up to five poems total, one poem per entry. We have streamlined it from past years. The old “Additional Details” line you spotted has been removed. Thank you!
—Evan Mantyk
Hi I have submitted poems in the past under my old name Aubrey Henderson l. My last name is now Iris. He’s a poem I would like to submit if you’re interested.
Lynx
His golden hair
Of flaxen wheat,
His eyes, the jewels
Of azure dreams
His silent gaze
That says it all
Reminds me of the
Elder days.
Come swift my love
On wings of light
A free me from
The dark of night
Without your touch
I languish here
In mists of doubt, despair and fear.
Come forth my love,
Forget me not
In lands where you’re a wandering
Come carry me
Back to our home
Where never more we’re parted.
Forgiven are the Deeds of past,
That rendered worlds a broken
Forgotten are the words unsaid,
The promises unspoken
A star still burns
Beyond the reach
Of tides of human folly
And there we shall
Abide at last,
Eternal and undying.