Winners Have Been Announced Here.
“Poetry … is a more philosophical and a higher thing than history: for poetry tends to express the universal, history the particular.”
—Aristotle (384-322 BC), Poetics
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.)
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, 2020, 11:59 p.m. EST. Winners announced February 1, 2021 on our e-Newsletter and on the Society’s homepage.
High School Prize:
$100. See details here.
Translation Prize:
$100. 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 2020. 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.
Past Winners
2020
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
where does one submit the poem [s] and the $10 entry fee?
Pay the fee here: https://classicalpoets.org/product/2021-poetry-competition-submission-fee/
Then email poems here: [email protected]
I get an error message that the email is not valid. Please respond
Ode to Solitude
Debashis Roy
The incessant procession of smiling faces
Of hundreds and thousands of people
I do not see anymore
Since I migrated to a new country.
As I am growing old
I feel more alienated,
Going far away from the madding crowd –
The halcyon clime of homeland,
The pangs of separation!
Could be felt deep down in my heart.
Sad boyhood memory of mother’s pyre
Gnaws my inner being sometimes
Death knell knocks me at the door,
Don’t know what spreads this gloom
I can’t grope into the darkness
So helplessly anymore.
Almighty give me strength
That I need to stand up firmly
And smile away sorrows
With a vow to embrace rhe world
With undistilled love.
******************
Bibliography of Debashis Roy:
Debashis is a writer from Canberra, the “Bush Capital” of Australia. He mainly writes in Bengali & sometimes writes in English. When not busy with work at IP Australia (Intellectual Property Australia), he writes modern poetry at his leisure.
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Please change it to embrace the world
Hello! I tried to pay for the 2021 competition via PayPal but encountered this note at the PayPal site:
“Sorry, we can’t complete your purchase at this time
To comply with international regulations, this transaction has been declined.”
There is no other option for me to pay. Though there is a claim that I may pay via my card without a PayPal account, there is no button to click. May I know how else I may make my payment and participate in the competition despite time running out?
Thanks!
Dear Qiu Ping Lim,
Please email your competition submission to [email protected] and we will sort out the payment.
Regards,
Evan Mantyk
When is the next date whereby you are receiving poetry submissions?
I want to participate as a bengali poem writer…can I?
Sushama, I believe the competition is open to anyone writing in English, but, I believe the deadline has passed. From above:
“Deadline: December 31, 2020, 11:59 p.m. EST. Winners announced February 1, 2021 on our e-Newsletter and on the Society’s homepage.”
However, you can always submit poems normally!
I am interested in the next competition deadline.