How to Enter a Teen Poetry Contest

If you are younger than 18 and write high-quality poetry for your age, you should consider entering a teen poetry contest. Receiving an award for poetry at a young age is a great way to gain experience with critiques and judges. Also, if you win, you'll have a jump start on others who are studying poetry in college if that is something you pursue. Most importantly, you can also enter a contest with a cash reward.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

How to Enter a Teen Poetry Contest

1. Create a portfolio or collection of your best poetry before finding a contest to enter. Most contests require information about the teenage poet, and showing your dedication and seriousness to your work early with help to impress the judges. It also would help to have studied some poetry and to know about basic poem styles, meter, stanzas, etc.

2. Have your parent, English teacher or experienced writer look over the poems that you are considering to submit to contests. Use the critiques and criticism to revise your poems the best that you can.

3. Go to the Poets & Writers Organization website (see Resources). This is an excellent website for teenagers and writers of all ages who are serious about writing poetry.

4. Click on the "Tools for Writers" option from the top toolbar. Click on the "More Grants & Awards" option. You can search for grants and awards from a variety of contests.

5. Find a contest that is strictly for teenagers only. The odds are that the contest will be for college-bound high school students who are serious about writing poetry. Each contest will have different submission guidelines, so read carefully to include all that is asked. For some, you can send you poems online, and other contests require that you mail them.

Tips & Warnings

• You can search for teen poetry contests on any search engine, but you'll also be likely to find many scams that involve payments for sending your poem with no real chances in wining. Some contests may not accept rotating entries, and others do not allow you to submit a poem if you have submitted it to another contest.

Resources

• Poets & Writers