2. David Oates is the editor and publisher of Monkey Magazine, which includes poetry and humor. He has published comic strip writing, poetry, and fiction in literary magazines, hosts the Athens Poetry Slam, and is the host/producer of the Great Apes Humor Show on WUGA, the public-radio station in Athens GA. He has published a collection of poetry and fiction, Night of the Potato from Sow's Ear Press, and a collection of haiku/senryu, Shifting with My Sandwich Hand. David also teaches creative writing and SAT, GRE, and ACT preparatory classes.

3. Linda Taylor teaches writing and literature at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia. She is from Ohio and was educated in the northeast. Her poems have appeared in Poetry Northwest, The Kenyon Review, The Massachusetts Review, Nimrod, The Georgia Review, Black Warrior Review, Indiana Review, The Ohio Review, The Centennial Review, Tar River Poetry, The (Ohio State) Journal, The Cimarron Review, Kansas Quarterly and other journals. Her book manuscript The Last Place Where Birds Live is being reviewed for publication. She has published a book on Henry James and articles on Emily Dickinson. She has written songs and performed folk, blues and gospel music. She is active in the Atlanta community as a foster parent and the president of her homeowners’ association. She has been an advocate for the natural environment on local, state and national levels.

4. John Summerfield has a Master of Fine Arts degree in Poetry from Goddard College in Plainfield, VT and a BA in English from the University of Florida. He self-published a book titled, I Suwannee, and has published in journals. He is currently working on a novel, titled Pete Sang! and a short story/poetry collection titled, Ricordando la Sicilia, to be published by Bordighera Press, hopefully this year.Ricordando la Sicilia is a joint effort with his wife, Dr. Giovanna Summerfield, a professor of Italian and French at Auburn University. He has two years experience teaching college writing. His main areas of interest are nature, agrarian, and eco-poetry, though he does have an interest in military/travel memoirs, short short stories, and non-fiction.

5. Keith Jones is a pastor and freelance writer from Epworth, Georgia, north of Blue Ridge. He is co-author, with his mother Ethelene Dyer Jones (a past president of the Georgia Poetry Society), of Mother and Child Reunion, a book of poems on the themes of family, home, and the North Georgia mountain region. Jones was born in Macon, but grew up in Hartwell, Hiawassee, and Epworth. He graduated from Shorter College in Rome, attended Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, and earned his M.Div. degree from New Orleans Baptist Seminary. He has served churches in Georgia, Kentucky, and Indiana, and is currently pastor of Morganton Baptist Church. He is serving as co-chair of the planning team for the 2007 Georgia Literary Festival, to be held September 28-30, which will honor Byron Herbert Reece. He and his wife Debbie now live in the community where he grew up. They have three sons, two daughters-in-law, and one granddaughter.

ANNUAL POETRY CONTESTS

The Georgia Poetry Society conducts contests in the fall of each year, with an October 15 postmark deadline for all entries. In addition to earning cash prizes, the top three poems in each contest may be published in The Reach of Song, the annual GPS poetry anthology. Below are descriptions of the contests, along with contest-specific requirements such as form and number of lines, followed by a set of general rules, such as the format required for all entries.

CHAPBOOK CONTEST:

In the Charles Dickson chapbook competition held every two years, the GPS publishes a work of poetry numbering 20 pages or less. Information and instructions follow the general contest rules below.

YOUTH COMPETITION:

The GPS also conducts annual awards programs for students in grades 1-12 enrolled in a Georgia public or private school or home-schooled at a permanent Georgia address. Information on the Margery Carlson Prize and the Marel Brown Prize can be found below, and at the GPS website, www.georgiapoetrysociety.org, which also contains a printable copy of the required entry form.

AWARDS PRESENTATIONS

Awards for adults are announced at an awards luncheon, where honored poets are given the opportunity to read their winning entries. The luncheon is currently part of the winter quarterly meeting held in January. (Youth awards, which have a January 31 postmark deadline each year, are announced at the quarterly GPS meeting in April.)

Entry Fees:

Number of entries: Three entries per poet per contest.

Prizes: First $75, Second $50, Third $25.

LIST OF CONTESTS FOR 2007

THE LANGSTON HUGHES AWARD

BYRON HERBERT REECE INTERNATIONAL AWARD

FOUNDERS AWARD

MNEMOSYNE AWARD

EDUCATORS’ AWARD

THE EDGAR BOWERS AWARD

GENERAL RULES:

Please observe these rules of competition to avoid the disappointment of disqualification.

Rights By submitting entries to any GPS poetry contest, entrants affirm that the poetry is their own original, unpublished work to which they own all rights. Entrants attest that the work submitted is not simultaneously entered in any other contest or submitted elsewhere for publication. Entrants attest that the poem submitted has not won a monetary award of more than $10 in any previous competition. The Georgia Poetry Society reserves the right to publish prize-winning poems in its annual anthology, The Reach of Song. Until published, rights rest with the Society. After publication, or a decision not to publish, rights revert to the author.

Eligibility: A contestant can enter only three poems per contest, and the same poem cannot be entered in any other contest. A contestant can win only one cash award in any contest.

Deadline: Each year, entries are accepted beginning September 1 and ending with postmarks of October 15. (If October 15 occurs on a weekend or holiday, entries postmarked the first business day after October 15 are accepted.) Following the awards luncheon announcements, results are also listed in the GPS newsletter and on the GPS website: www.georgiapoetrysociety.org.

Subject Matter. Poems submitted must be consistent with the publication aims of the Society's annual anthology, The Reach of Song. Because this anthology is forwarded to school and public libraries where children are readers, and because winning poems may be published in it, poems submitted must avoid language or themes inappropriate for a child readership. Accordingly, poems will be disqualified if they are deemed by the contest coordinator(s) or judge(s) to violate this standard. In general, poems will be disqualified if found to contain indecencies, obscenities, defamations, or hateful expressions.

Honorable Mentions, Citations. Although the rules state that only three cash prizes are awarded, sometimes judges feel that certain poems merit an "honorable mention" or even a "citation." While these honors may be announced, no cash prizes are awarded, and these poems are not published in The Reach of Song.

HOW TO ENTER YOUR POEMS:

A. Prepare the Poems: Type each entry in English on only one side of 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper, one poem per page, single-spaced (if a poem runs longer than one page, staple together all pages of each copy). Prepare two copies with the name of the contest in the upper right-hand corner of both copies. Place the name and address of the poet under the name of the contest on only one copy of the poem.

B. Prepare Payment: Write a check or money order payable to: Georgia Poetry Society. (Do not make checks or money order payable to individual contest chairs.) All competition fees must be paid in U.S. funds. Poems accompanied by cash will be disqualified and returned to the submitter. IMPORTANT: Check to be sure your payment is correct. The total must include $2.00 for each poem entered if you are a GPS member, and $3.00 per poem if you are not a member of the GPS. You do not need to write separate checks or money orders if you are entering poems in multiple contests.

C. Mail Your Entries: In a suitable envelope, include both copies of all your entries, along with your check or money order. If you want to receive a list of award winners, be sure to include a SASE. Mailing all your entries for all contests in a single envelope is encouraged. Mail your entries anytime after September 1 but no later than October 15, unless October 15 occurs on a weekend or holiday, in which case you can mail your entries the first business day after October 15. Address the envelope to:

Georgia Poetry Society

Attn: Contests Chairman

PO Box 2184

Columbus GA 31902

(Note: the Georgia Poetry Society mailing address usually follows the President. When a new President of the society is elected the mailing address may change. It is recommended that entrants check the website to verify the current mailing address as of the time of submission.)

No Email Entries: Submissions by email will be ignored.

Cancellations: Any contest receiving fewer than ten entries may be canceled. If so, entry fees will be refunded.

Judging: Each contest chairperson will secure qualified judges who are not GPS members (with the exception of the youth contests). Entries are judged anonymously. Decisions of the judges are final. A list of winners will contain the name(s) of the judge(s).

Notification of Wnners: Winners not present at the awards luncheon in January will be notified and will receive their awards by mail. A list of winners will be sent to all entrants who include a SASE with their submissions.

Publication: The GPS reserves first publication rights to all prize-winning poems for possible inclusion in the anthology, Reach of Song. Failure to allow GPS to publish a winning poem will result in disqualification, loss of placement and loss of prize money.

Non-Winning Poems: will be destroyed. No poems are returned.

Chapbook Contest

Every two years, the Charles Dickson Chapbook Contest honors poetic achievement in a chapbook-length work. Dickson, an internationally respected poet of the haiku, was the author of A Touch of Wholeness, Taste of Summer, Fragrance of Frost Grapes, and Out of Casseopeia. The chapbook contest is funded in part by a grant from the estate of John King and Mary Harvey Ottley and a gift from Virginia Dickson. Only one manuscript will be selected for publication, and there will be no runners up or honorable mentions.

How to Enter Your Chapbook: Submit two copies of a chapbook-length manuscript of not more than 20 pages of poems, a title page, table of contents, and, if desired, an acknowledgements page. Use a conventional serif-style 12-point font, such as Times New Roman. Do not include illustrations. Place author identification on one copy only. Use any subject, any form. General rules for GPS contests apply, including those for mailing and deadline requirements, except that the Chapbook entry should be mailed separately from any other contest entry and the words, "Chapbook Contest" should be written on the outside of the mailing envelop.

Entry Fee: $20

Deadline: October 15, 2007.

Prize: The winning author receives 200 copies of the printed chapbook.

Eligibility: Open only to GPS members in good standing. Non-members may enter by joining GPS. GPS reserves copies for sale, determines printing and binding specifications.

Contest Chair: John Ottley

PRIZES FOR YOUTH POETRY

The Margery Carlson Prize is awarded annually by the Georgia Poetry Society for poetic achievement by students in grades 1-5. The Marel Brown Prize is a two-tier contest with prizes awarded annually by the Georgia Poetry Society for poetic achievement by students grades 6-8 and grades 9-12.

Eligibility: Any student in grades 1-12 enrolled in a Georgia public or private school or home-schooled at a permanent Georgia address.

Fees: There are no entry fees for this contest.

Prizes (1st/2nd/3rd):

Prize-winners also receive a copy of the issue of The Reach of Song that contains winning youth poems.

Restrictions: Poems must be accompanied by entry form (a printable copy of the form is available on the GPS website at http://www.georgiapoetrysociety.org).

Length of poem: maximum of 32 lines.

Subject: Any subject in good taste, any poetic form. Poem must be student's original and unpublished work. Teachers should ensure that works are not plagiarized.

How To Enter Poems For Youth Poetry:

To guide submissions, please adhere to these format considerations:

Deadline: All entries must be postmarked no later than January 31.

Judges: The Georgia Poetry Society will select qualified judges who receive the copies without author identification for judging.

Winners are announced at the April meeting of the Society. Winners are invited, but are not required, to appear with parents and/or teachers to receive their awards. The Georgia Poetry Society reserves the right to publish prize-winning poems in its annual anthology, The Reach of Song. Until published, rights rest with the Society. After publication, or a decision not to publish, rights revert to the author.

Georgia Poetry Society

PO Box 2184

Columbus, GA 31902

(706) 221-4370