Other Poetry Contests

Season of Change

contest by Silver Wings. $325 total awards. $3 per poem, no limit. SASE to Silver Wings, P.O. Box 2340, CLovis, CA 93613

Poets' Roundtable

a small bi-monthly leaflet by the Poets' Study Club of Terre Haute, Indiana, is well worth the $15.00 subscription price. In simple format it brings you dozens of contest opportunities, markets, and a number of brief poems by members, plus each issue has a themed contest, two entries for $1.00. Write to: Esther Alman, 826 South Center St., Terre Haute, IN 47807.

For College/University Students

IF YOU HAVE COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY LEVEL persons in your family or in your acquaintance who have poetic tendencies, alert them to the special manuscript competition NFSPS conducts. Four copies of a 10-poem submission must be in hand by February 1st. Very specific guidelines and a required application form can be obtained online at www.nfsps.com/scholarship.htm or send me an SASE. I have them already printed out. Two awards of $500 each and 75 copies of the manuscript published by NFSPS are given, plus a $300 stipend if the winner attends the NFSPS convention in San Antonio in June. No entry fee. Application must be notarized.

NFSPS Contests

Don't forget the 50-category NFSPS 2008 CONTEST. Yellow folder was sent in the October IPA mailing. Your IPA membership (if paid by Mar.1st) entitles you to the "member" rate, which means you can enter 48 poems (or as many categories as your work will fit into) for a total fee of $8.00. Deadline is March 15, 2008 postmark so get to work NOW! For a copy of the rules, send an SASE to Theda Bassett, NFSPS Contest Chairman, 30W Lester Ave, #D-27, Salt Lake City, UT 84107, or email: theda_bassett2002@yahoo.com

Ongoing or Regularly Repeating

Jessee's Contests: Many categories, most with $1 per poem entry fee. Always themes: Jessee Poet, P.O Box 232, Lyndora, PA 16045.

High Prairie Poets, a chapter of New Mexico State Poetry Society, now has a series of bi-monthly contests. SASE to Carol Meeks, 2010 W. Bullock Ave., Artesia, NM 88210.

Many of the State Poetry Organizations offer annual contests with multiple categories and low entry fees, open to both members and non-members. Strophes includes many of these on their back pages or an inquiry sent to the state president (listed on page 2 of each Strophes) will get you information.

THINGS ALL POETS KNOW -- MAYBE

SASE means self-addressed stamped envelope and should be included with each request for information/rules and with all contest or potential publication submissions (unless guidelines specifically say "no SASE.") Send a #10 (business-size 9.5"x4.5") envelope.

There are MANY sites where you can share your poems on the internet. Do not forget, a poem placed on the internet is published and cannot be entered as an unpublished poem in contests where this is a requirement.

Rules need to be read carefully and followed exactly. In a few cases kind-hearted contest chairs will overlook your deviations, but most will disqualify poems that ignore one or more guidelines, either intentionally or carelessly. Why waste your time and postage if your submission never gets into the judge's or editor's hands?