2025 Cascadia Student Poetry Contest Guidelines
Submissions Open March 2 - May 2, 2025
Division I: Kindergarten - Grade 5
Division II: Grade 6 - Grade 9
Division III: Grade 10 - Grade 12
Contest open to all K-12 students who are residents of the state of Oregon, including public, private, magnet, charter, parochial, incarcerated, and home-school students. There is no entry fee.
Up to ten winners will be selected per division. Each winner will receive a $50 prize and publication in the next issue of Cascadia. Winners will be announced to all entrants in early June, 2025. OPA will host a celebratory reading for the winning poets in late June via Zoom.
All winners in Divisions II and III are encouraged to enter into the nationwide 2025 Manningham Trust Student Contest sponsored by the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. This contest also awards cash prizes and publication.
Cascadia Student Poetry Contest Submission Guidelines
1. Each student may submit one original poem (of their own, individual creative work) on any subject, in any style, form, or language. Bilingual poems are also encouraged. Co-written and collaborative poems will be disqualified.
2. The poem should be uploaded to Submittable by the student or their teacher in a .doc or .docx file.
3. The Submittable form requires that each poet submit the following information with their entry:
- Student’s Name
- Student’s School
- School Location (Town)
- Student’s Grade
- Student’s Email
- Parent/Guardian’s Email
- Parent/Guardian’s mailing address
- Student’s Teacher
- Teacher’s Email
- Confirmation of Oregon Residence
- Confirmation of Original Content
Contact information is for notification purposes only and will not be shared.
4. Submissions with incomplete Submittable forms will be disqualified.
5. The contest deadline is May 2, 2024.
Judges
The judges this year include Brennan DeFrisco, Jae Nichelle, and Mindy Nettifee.
OREGON POETRY ASSOCIATION 2025 NATIONAL POETRY MONTH CONTEST
Begins: March 10, 2025
Ends: April 14, 2025
Winners will be announced by mid-May 2025 and invited to read at the OPA Annual Conference in early October.
CATEGORY
POETRY-MONTH: one poem / two page maximum, any subject, any form. Entrant must be a current OPA member.
The document file name should be: Category-Title, for example: POETRY-MONTH-This Is Just to Say
JUDGE
Judge: Emmett Wheatfall
Emmett Wheatfall lives in Portland, Oregon. He is a two-time nominee for Oregon Poet Laureate and the recipient of the prestigious 2024 Oregon Poetry Association Patricia Ruth Banta Award. Emmett has served as the keynote speaker at two Oregon Poetry Association Annual Conferences and many other conferences and workshops. In 2020, Corban University produced a nine-part documentary highlighting Emmett’s life and his introduction to poetry.
AWARDS
1st place $150; 2nd place $100; 3rd place $70; 3 Honorable Mentions
1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be published on OPA’s website and in Verseweavers, OPA’s annual print anthology, and may be included in an OPA newsletter or social media posting.
Funding for the contest has been provided by an anonymous donor.
ENTRY FEE
None for OPA members.
DEADLINE
Entries must be submitted via Submittable by April 14, 2025, 11:59pm PST, at which time poems will be made available to the judge.
CONTEST GUIDELINES (Entries not in compliance with these guidelines will be disqualified)
1. Poems entered must be entrant’s original work, unpublished online or in print, and may not have been a prior winner in any contest. Self-published books/collections, blogs, social media, and personal website postings are considered published.
2. Poets may only submit one poem. Page limit is two pages.
3. Submit poems in 12-point Times New Roman font, standard 1-inch margins. Format as .doc or .docx. No PDF files.
4. Poet’s name/contact information should NOT appear anywhere on the poems or in file names. Poems are read blind.
5. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but if a poem is accepted elsewhere, entrant must notify OPA immediately and withdraw the poem via a Submittable message.
6. Online submissions only at https://opa.submittable.com.
7. Your OPA membership must be up-to-date. If you join OPA at the time you enter, you are eligible for this contest.
8. Poems may not be edited and re-submitted. Submission is final.
9. OPA claims first North American Rights to winning poems. All rights revert to author upon print publication in Verseweavers. OPA reserves the right to use prizewinning poems on the OPA website, membership forms, etc. If a poem is subsequently reprinted, please acknowledge OPA and Verseweavers as the original publisher.
Thank you for for supporting poetry in Oregon. Your generous contribution may go to the Youth Contest, Spanish Contest, Adult Contest, Conference, or Special Workshops & Poetry Event.
Memberships last for one year. Thank you for supporting the Oregon Poetry Association.
Memberships last for two years. Thank you for supporting the Oregon Poetry Association.
Memberships last for one year. Thank you for supporting Oregon Poetry Association.