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The Poetry.com Contest December 2024
Enter our monthly poetry contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and gain worldwide recognition for your talent!
Tell me more!
Poetry.com prides itself in supporting and encouraging all writers, regardless of background, education or experience. All poets, whether just starting out or with many years of practice, are encouraged to use our monthly contests as an opportunity to gain motivation, inspiration, exposure and most importantly, build passion and enjoyment for the written word!
How does it work?
Every month, a new contest will begin. Submit an original poem or choose one of your existing poems from the site. Check out our entry criteria, then submit your entry before the deadline! The following month, we will announce the winners on our contest Summary Page. Additionally, all nominated poems will be displayed on our site and will feature a special badge, highlighting it is a contest nominee. Each winner's badge will display their position in the top three!
What about the awards?
When it comes to the awards, we offer exciting prizes for our contest winners. The top three winners will receive cash prizes, with the first-place winner receiving $500, the second-place winner receiving $300, and the third-place winner receiving $200. Furthermore, five runners-up will receive a personalized mug featuring their winning poem. And that's not all - at the end of the year, the twelve monthly winners will compete for the Poem of the Year grand prize of $1,000.
How do you decide who wins?
In this contest, YOU are the judges! Every nominee is eligible for one vote, each vote worth a single point. Once all the applications have been received or the submission period has been reached, you will be able to vote. You are not allowed to vote for yourself, and abstaining from voting will deduct a point from your poem. On top of that, the Poetry.com team can award up to five bonus points to their favorite poems. The voting period will last one week, after which the winners will be announced!
Yes! All our contestants are judges too!
Our poetry contests boast a clever twist! We thought long and hard about what we can offer the poetry community that is new, fresh and exciting. Traditional formats have a panel of judges, named or anonymous. Our vision is that poetry is like art - it can be viewed and interpreted in a myriad of ways and it all comes down to taste and opinion. We offer Judging Guidelines to outline the key aspects of a good poem and encourage you to bring your own knowledge and experience together with ours when voting for yourselves. We believe in our community and its power to create! Let the games begin!
Guidelines
- Signing up to Poetry.com is required to enter.
- Work must be an original composition and previously unpublished.
- Your poem should not exceed 75 lines in length including stanza breaks.
- Poems may take any poetic form (see Poetic Forms) and cover any theme or subject as long as material is respectful and inoffensive.
- Poems must be in English.
- There is no limit to the number of poems you may apply with, a new application form must be filled out for each new entry.
- We cap total entries at 150 poems per contest.
- A non-refundable entry and review fee of 25 USD* is required to enter.
- * Can’t afford the entry fee? Every contest we’ll be accepting up to 5 free submissions from
writers that are financially out of reach. You also have the opportunity to earn a free contest pass by participating in our exclusive reward program.
Ethics
Our monthly contests adhere to the Council of Literary Magazines & Presses Contest Code of Ethics sharing the goal to "connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing".
