2024 Cascadia Student Poetry Contest Guidelines
Submissions Open February 1 - May 1, 2024
Division I: Kindergarten - Grade 5
Division II: Grade 6 - Grade 8
Division III: Grade 9 - 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 online issue of Cascadia. Honorable Mentions are at the discretion of the judge. Winners will be announced to all entrants no later than May 27, 2024. OPA will host a celebratory reading for the winning poets June 7, 2024 at 6 p.m. PST via Zoom.
All winners in Divisions III and IV may be entered into the nationwide 2024 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
- Student’s Teacher (optional)
- Teacher’s Email (optional)
- Student’s Email (optional)
- Parent/Guardian’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 1, 2024. Contact Cascadia Contest Chair Corinne Hughes(corinnehughes@oregonpoets.com) with questions or difficulties using the Submittable platform.
Judges
Well-qualified judges will be selected to judge all poems.
A beautiful book, 6" X 9," 110 contributors, 257 pages, all for $25.
Please note that if you are a contributor you will be receiving one complimentary copy. As soon as the book is back from the printers all orders will be processed and mailed.
Excerpt from the book:
Foreword
“As an OPA board member, having read through these poems, I can attest to the quality of writing. I am amazed at the variety of subjects these poets have tackled. Some of the poems directly reflect the scourge of the virus in costs of human life and suffering. . . I also noticed that many of these poems
were celebrations, able to juxtapose the beauty of Nature surrounding us in a time of upheaval.”
—Susan Morse, OPA Executive Board Member
During the pandemic we have all had ample time to write. In response to these unprecedented times the Oregon Poetry Association is publishing this Pandemic 2020 Anthology. All the poems are by OPA members. We are happy to present this stunning artistic and historic document.
While the pandemic raged, nature thrived. Spring burst into summer and wild animals roamed our backyards. We poets weeded our gardens, baked, tended our children, and wrote poetry. We observed our neighbors from afar, adjusting to the new social norms, not touching, and drawing cautious breaths behind our masks. We were lonely and fearful, furious with the slow lack of government response, though few of us reflected our frustration in our poetry.
A few months ago, wildfires swept through Oregon, burning some of our homes as well as entire communities. A pall of thick smoke blanketed our state, making it even more difficult to breathe. At the time of this publication, four hundred thousand Americans have lost their lives due to contagion. Poets in this anthology lost loved ones and wrote of their grief. We have suffered through a tumultuous political upheaval and yet we continue to write poetry.
Dale Champlin, Editor
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.