2009 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. To the right side is a list of the contests. Please click the links for descriptions of the contests, along with contest-specific requirements such as form and number of lines. The general rules, such as the format required for all entries, are provided below.
ENTRY FEES (for all general contests, except the chapbook competition):
GPS Life Members: No fee;
GPS members: $ 2 per poem;
Non-members: $ 3 per poem.
NUMBER OF ENTRIES: Three entries per poet per contest.
PRIZES (for all general contests, except the chapbook competition): First $75, Second $50, Third $25.
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.)
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By submitting entries to any GPS poetry contest, entrants affirm that the poetry is their own original, unpublished work to which they own all rights.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 Chair
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 WINNERS:
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.