Seeks Entries, Offers Cash Prizes
Poets in area high schools have until March 1, 2018, to submit their work to
the annual Beverly Hopkins Memorial Poetry Contest, sponsored by the St. Louis
Poetry Center (www.stlouispoetrycenter.org).
Winners receive cash prizes– $225 for first place, $125 for second, and $75
for third– and have the opportunity to read their work at an awards ceremony on
May 20, 2018. They and honorable-mention contestants receive a free chapbook
featuring their poems.

Judging this year entries is Suzanne Buffam, the author of three poetry
collections, including A Pillow Book, which the New York Times named as one of
its ten Best Poetry Books of 2016.

The St. Louis Poetry Center has been cultivating practitioners of the craft
since its founding in 1946. Besides sponsoring contests, workshops, and
readings, the Poetry Center places teaching artists in schools, homeless
shelters, and jails.

Here are the contest rules:

• Contestants must be high school students living within 100 miles of
  St. Louis.
• Submit up to 3 poems that have not won any awards.
• Poems already published in a high school publication can be
  submitted.
• We prefer that students submit work on their own. Teachers need
  permission from the contest coordinator to submit work on behalf of
  more than three students.
• Include the author name (no pen name required) and email
  address on each poem.
• Enclose a separate piece of paper with the author’s name, street
  address, phone number, email address, high school, grade,
  teacher’s name (if he or she assigned the poems, or encouraged
  their submission), and titles of the poems.
• There is no entry fee.

www.stlouispoetrycenter.org

Mail entries to:
St. Louis Poetry Center
High School Poetry Contest
P. O. Box 300167
St. Louis, MO 63130

Contestants also can email their entries to:
[email protected].

Please attach poems and the author
information sheet as separate Word documents.

The email and postmark deadline is March 1.

For more information about the Beverly Hopkins Memorial Poetry Contest for
high school students, contact contest coordinator Robert Lowes at
[email protected]

Flyer:

SLPC-HS_Poetry_Contest-2018-FINAL (1)-2 (1)