“Poetry … is a more philosophical and a higher thing than history: for poetry tends to express the universal, history the particular.”
—Aristotle (384-322 BC), Poetics
First Prize:
$100. Publication in the Society’s website and Journal.
Submission Fee:
$5 (The fee comes with a free subscription to our monthly e-Newsletter.)
Submit:
One to three poems on any topic. All together, the poems should total 108 lines or less. Email as a Word file (doc or docx) or in the email body to submissions@classicalpoets.org. Put “High School Poetry Contest” in the subject line of the email. Include your grade level and high school name.
Poems must contain meter. Counting the number of syllables and ensuring there are a similar number in each line is sufficient. (To learn how to write poetry with meter, see a brief beginner’s guide on common iambic meter here or a more elaborate beginner’s guide to many kinds of meter here.)
Deadline:
December 31, 2020, 11:59 p.m. EST. Winners announced February 1, 2021 on our e-Newsletter and on the Society’s homepage.
Judges:
Evan Mantyk, editor of The Society of Classical Poets Journal and website
Who May Participate?
Any high school student, or anyone ages 13 to 19, from any country of any background. If you are outside the United States, you would need to have a PayPal account to receive the prize money should you win First Place.
Additional Details
The poem should be written in 2020. They may be previously published. Simultaneous submissions are accepted.
Past First Place winners are prohibited from participating.
You do not have to be a Member of the Society to participate.
You will retain ownership of your submitted poetry. By submitting it to the Society for publication or for inclusion in the contest, should it rank among winners or receive an honorable mention, you give the Society permission to publish it online on this website, in the Society of Classical Poets Journal, and in publications promoting the SCP’s mission or this annual contest, but the SCP would not be able to sell your individual poem on its own or have any further rights over it beyond these purposes. You could publish it anywhere else or sell it to any publication as desired.
Past Winners
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
Poetry Writing Resources
Guides
-
- “Freeware Prosody” by Expansive Poetry Online
- How to Write Classical Poetry by the Society of Classical Poets
- “How to Write Poetry with Meter” by Dusty Grein
- “The Hard Edges of a Poem” by Joseph S. Salemi
- The Prosody Handbook: A Guide to Poetic Form by Robert Beum and Karl Shapiro
- Writing Metrical Poetry by William Baer
Poetry Forms
Great Poetry
Ten Greatest Poems
Ten Greatest Love Poems
Ten Greatest Poems about Death
Hill
I stare at the schlep ahead of me
My usually c-curved posture
Has accommodated the weight
Of a heavy backpack
and a long day
My back has hunched over
Like an eroded mountain
I lean over my toes
As if gravity has shifted positions
and the pressure of the straps yanks
my shoulders toward the ground
With a deep sigh
My feet trudge up the hill
Rhythmically
1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4
Left right left right
The thought of home
A cabinet of food
And a leathery couch
Cloud my peripheral vision
So much so that I don’t notice
Silky, burgundy leaves
Float down from a cherry tree
Or the afternoon light
Dancing on chipped paint
Or a wall bound hanging bush
Bare orange blooms
4 o’clock has her arm extended to me
But I decline the invitation
My intersecting mind has become
a one way sidewalk
So before I reach the steps
Leading up to my house
I look back