Original & Junior
Poetry Writing Contest
THE WEDNESDAY CLUB OF ST. LOUIS
Entry Deadline – February 1, 2022 • Awards Reception – April 13, 2022 at 1:oo pm
The Wednesday Club will follow the County guidelines for Covid-19.
ORIGINAL POETRY CONTEST
ELIGIBILITY:
- Adults over 18; living within a 50-mile radius of St. Louis.
- Any person having won first prize in the contest twice within the last five years is ineligible for further cash awards but may be cited for honors.
RULES:
- Submit TWO TYPED COPIES of TWO poems, which have never been published or won an award.
- Use 8 1/2 x 11 paper with no more than one poem to a page.
- Sign with pseudonym ONLY.
- Type real name, address, e-mail address and telephone number on a separate sheet of paper and enclose with poems. No manuscripts returned.
SEND TO:
Dr. Genie McKee
ORIGINAL POETRY CONTEST
2036 Trailcrest Ln., Apt. #4
Kirkwood, MO 63122
EMAIL: Not available at this time
PRIZES: $500, $300, $150
JUDGE: BARBARA CROOKER
*poetry editor for Italian-Americana
*author of twelve chapbooks and nine full-length books of poetry. Some Glad Morning, Pitt Poetry Series, University of Pittsburgh Poetry Press, 2019, is the latest.
*awards include the WB Yeats Society of New York Award, the Thomas Merton Poetry of the Sacred Award, and three Pennsylvania Council fellowships in literature
*work appears in literary journals and anthologies, including: Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania, and The Bedford Introduction to Literature.
*been on The Writer’s Almanac fifty-some times, Tracey K. Smith’s The Slowdown, and featured on Ted Kooser's American Life in Poetry
JUNIOR POETRY CONTEST
ELIGIBILITY:
- High School Students in Grades 9 through 12 in the St. Louis Area
RULES:
- Entries must be submitted through the English Department.
- Entries must be submitted with an English teacher’s signature indicating approval of the content.
- Each student must submit TWO copies of TWO original poems, one per page, signed with a pen name along with one completed official entry form per student.
FOR ENTRY FORMS OR QUESTIONS:
Junior Entry Form for the Poetry Contest
SEND TO:
Nan Starling
Junior Poetry Contest
14 Upper Conway Lane
St. Louis, MO 63017
STUDENT PRIZES: $200, $150, $100, $80, $50, and up to five $25 honorable mentions
TEACHER AWARDS: $200, $150, $100
(Applies to teachers of first three student winners)
JUDGE: BERWYN MOORE
*Professor of English, Gannon University, Erie, PA, receiving the Distinguished Faculty Award in 2012
*Author of three books of poetry: Sweet Herbaceous Miracle, winner of the 2017 John Ciardi Prize, O Body Swayed, and Dissolution of Ghosts
*Poems published widely in national journals, including Measure: A Review of Formal Poetry, Five Points Journal, Nimrod International Journal of Poetry and Prose, The Southern Review, Shenandoah, Poetry Northwest, among others
*Named the first Poet Laureate of Erie County, Pennsylvania