25th Statewide Poetry Contest
Entry Period: December 1, 2019 – February 14, 2020
The Statewide Poetry Contest is a statewide celebration of poetry writing in Alaska and invites participation from writers of all ages elementary school and up. With a reading in April, during National Poetry Writing Month, the contest aims to encourage, publicize and reward the writing of high quality poetry in our great state.
Winners of the contest, who will be announced in late March, will receive an invitation to share their poetry during a reading in the Bear Gallery alongside other poetry contest awardees and will record their poems with KUAC for broadcast on channel FM 89.9.
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
Entry Fee:
Adults – $4 per poem or $13/four poems.
Elementary, Middle, and High School – $3 per poem or $10 / four poems.
Class Entries (min. 10 poems) – $1 per poem
Judge: Ishmael Hope
Ishmael Hope, an Inupiaq and Tlingit poet, actor and Indigenous scholar, served as the lead writer for the video game Never Alone (Upper One Games). He has published two poetry collections including Rock Piles Alone the Eddy (Ishmael Reed Publications) and played the character Atka in a feature film, Frontera Azul: The Blue Frontier (Patria Productions).
Recent publications include Poetry Magazine, Indian Country magazine and Native Voices: Indigenous American Poetry, Craft and Conversations (Tupelo Press).
Instructions:
- Open to Alaska residents only
- Submission are limited to 4 poems per writer
- Poems must be original, unpublished work
- Poems must be typed and submitted as separate 8.5”x11” pdf documents
- May not exceed 100 lines in length (to exclude title and spaces)
- Include the poem’s title on the first line of the document
- Writer’s name must not appear on any poems
- File name for poems must include poem title and submitter’s division, i.e. poemtitle_division.pdf (examples: bluevase_adult or pony_elementary)
- Writer’s name must not appear on document title
Any poems not adhering to the above instructions will be disqualified.
For questions, call 907.456.6485 ext. 224 or email literary@fairbanksarts.org
While you wait:
Read poems by the 2019 winners here!
Stay up to date on other Fairbanks Arts literary offerings and opportunities, as well as updates regarding the 2020 statewide poetry contest by signing up for our monthly e-newsletter.
Fairbanks Arts programs are made possible by individual and corporate contributions, the City of Fairbanks Hotel/Motel Bed Tax, Fairbanks North Star Borough and Alaska State Council on the Arts.
