The Statewide Poetry Contest is a celebration of poetry writing and literary artistry and invites participation from writers of all ages—elementary school and up. The contest aims to encourage, publicize, and reward the writing of high-quality poetry in Alaska.
Winners of the contest receive monetary prizes as well as an invitation to share their poetry during a reading event in April.
The 2022 contest is now closed. Read the winning poems here!
Divisions: Awards:
Adult 1st Place $150 | 2nd Place $100 | 3rd Place $50
High School 1st Place $100 | 2nd Place $50 | 3rd Place $25
Middle School 1st Place $50 | 2nd Place $30 | 3rd Place $15
Elementary School 1st Place $50 | 2nd Place $30 | 3rd Place $15
2022 Judge: Erin Coughlin Howell
Erin Coughlin Hollowell is a poet and writer who lives at the end of the road in Alaska. Prior to landing in Alaska, she lived on both coasts, in big cities and small towns, pursuing many different professions from tapestry weaving to arts administration. She is the author of Pause, Traveler (2013) and Every Atom (2018), both published by Boreal Books, an imprint of Red Hen Press. Her collection Corvus and Crater is forthcoming from Salmon Poetry in 2023. She has been awarded two Rasmuson Foundation Fellowships, a Connie Boochever Award, and an Alaska Literary Award. Her work has been most recently published in Orion Magazine, Prairie Schooner, Alaska Quarterly Review, Terrain.org, and Sugar House Review, and was a finalist for the 49th Parallel Contest for the Bellingham Review. She is the executive director of Storyknife Writers Retreat and director of the Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference.
fairbanksarts.org 