Winners of the competition can be found 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:
$1,000. Publication on the Society’s website and Journal.
Submission Fee:
$10 (The fee comes with a free subscription to our monthly e-Newsletter. Also, you may use your participation in the Competition as professional development. For details, see here.)
Submit:
One to three poems on any topic. All together, 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 [email protected]. 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.) You may alternatively mail a check made out to the Society of Classical Poets to Evan Mantyk, Society of Classical Poets, 11 Heather Ln. Mount Hope, NY 10940.
Deadline:
December 31, 2019, 11:59 p.m. EST. Winners announced February 1, 2020 on our e-Newsletter and on the Society’s homepage.
High School Prize:
$100. No submission fee. See details here.
Translation Prize:
$100. No submission fee. See details here.
Judges:
Joseph S. Salemi, acclaimed New Formalist poet, essayist for Expansive Poetry Online, professor, New York University, Hunter College
James Sale, poetry critic, award-winning British poet, Arts columnist, The Epoch Times
Evan Mantyk, editor of The Society of Classical Poets Journal and website
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
The poem should be written in 2019. 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, 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.” If your poem places in the competition (first, second, third, or fourth place) it may be published by the Society during or before the month of February (you do not have the choice of non-publication without losing your place).
Past Winners
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
Poetry Writing Resources
Guides
-
- “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
Great announcement but . . . how do participants pay the $10 submission fee when they are submitting their poems via email?
It should be clearer now. See above and let me know.
I have a christmas poem I would like to enter in your contest!, how do I go about it?
Are submissions in multiple categories accepted? I have both a translation and three poems I’d like to submit.
Yes, multiple category submissions are accepted.
The article says up to 3 poems on any topic, but do all 3 poems have to be on the same topic? Are the poems judged as a group, or as individual works? I guess another way to think about it is to ask does the price go to a particular poem, or to a poet? I’m thinking about submitting several disparate poems, and just wanted to ask. Thanks
They can be on the same topic or different topics. The poems are judged together as a reflection of the poet’s overall mastery.
Is it too late to submit?
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