Sharpen your pencils! Here's the guidelines for the first (maybe annual) Journals Poetry Contest. Please pay close attention, as entries that do not fulfill requirements will be disqualified.
Entrants may submit one poem of original, previously unpublished work. Only entries in the English language will be accepted.
There is no entry fee.
Poems should include a one-line title. The title is not included in the line count.
Entries must be between six and 30 lines and fit on the front of a single page.
The line “April’s gentle winds blow tender leaves” must appear in the text of the poem. The required line may not appear in the title.
Entries may be either neatly handwritten or typed, single spaced in 12-point font. Illegible entries will be disqualified.
Divisions will be elementary school, middle school, high school and adult.
The entry must include the following information: name, mailing address, email address (if available), phone number and division that the poem is entered in. If entering the elementary, middle or high school category, please include age, grade and school (please specify if homeschooled).
Entries must be submitted by an individual (no teacher-submitted entries, please).
Grounds for automatic disqualification include (1) entering a poem that is less than six lines or more than 30 lines, (2) omission of the required line, (3) omission of a title, (4) missing or incomplete personal information, (5) arrival of the entry past the deadline. Entrants will not be informed of their disqualification.
Submissions will not be returned.
DEADLINE: March 9. Mailed entries must be postmarked by March 9.
Entries can be submitted two ways. Receipt of entries will not be confirmed.
1) Mail to Journals Poetry Contest, c/o Daily News-Record, P.O. Box 193, Harrisonburg, VA 22803. Specify on the envelope “Journals Poetry Contest.”
2) Hand-deliver to the Daily News-Record office at 231 S. Liberty St. in Harrisonburg between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Specify on the envelope “Journals Poetry Contest.”
JUDGING FORMAT: Personal information will be removed and each entry assigned an identification number. The judge, a professional poet and teacher, lives out of state.
AWARDS: First, second and third place prizes will be awarded in each of the four divisions: elementary school, middle school, high school and adult open. A Grand Prize winner (to be named the official Journals Poet Laureate and bestowed all associated honors) will also be chosen from among entrants in all four categories. Winning poems will be published in a special poetry issue. Prizes will be mailed to the winners.
Contest guidelines are available at www.shenandoahjournal.com and www.northforkjournal.com, by email request at journals@dnronline.com, at the front desk of the advertising department at the Daily News-Record office at 231 S. Liberty St. in Harrisonburg, or by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Journals Poetry Contest Guidelines, c/o Daily News-Record, P.O. Box 193, Harrisonburg, VA 22803.
