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“Thou, in our wonder and astonishment,
Hast built thyself a livelong monument.”
—John Milton, “On Shakespeare”
First Prize:
$200. Publication in the Society’s website and The Society of Classical Poets Journal.
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Submission Fee:
$5 (The fee comes with a free subscription to our monthly e-Newsletter.)
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Submit:
One poem on any topic after you pay the $5 submission fee. The poem should be no more than 50 lines. You may submit up to three poems ($5 each). Email as a Word file (doc or docx) or in the email body to submissions@classicalpoets.org. Put “High School Poetry Competition” in the subject line of the email. IMPORTANT: Include your grade level, high school name, and the name of who made the payment (if not you).
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. See a guide to poetry forms here)
Artificial intelligence (such as ChatGPT and all other such programs) may not be used in anyway to write the poem.
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Deadline:
December 31, 2024, 11:59 p.m. EST. Winners announced February 1, 2025 on our e-Newsletter and on the Society’s homepage. (Annual submission dates Sept. 1 – Dec. 31.)
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Judges:
Evan Mantyk, editor of the Society of Classical Poets Journal and website, teacher of literature and history
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Who May Participate?
Any high school or elementary school student, or age 19 or younger, 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.
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Additional Details
The poem should be written in 2024. 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.
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Past Winners
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
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Poetry Writing Resources
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- A Simple Guide to Forms with Example Poems from the Society of Classical Poets
- “Freeware Prosody” by Expansive Poetry Online
- How to Write Classical Poetry by the Society of Classical Poets
- “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
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