The Poetry Society of Tennessee invites student poets to participate in their annual student poetry contest, open to all Tennessee-based students entering grades two through twelve in the coming school year.
The contest includes two categories: written poetry and eye poems. Winning poems will be sent to national level contests and may be published.
Contest categories for written poetry forms include the following:
- Elementary (Grades 2-5) — Any Form
- Middle School (Grades 6-8) — Free Verse
- High School (Grades 9-12) — Free Verse
The eye poem category is for second through twelfth graders. An eye poem is a poetic collage of visual and verbal imagery. Students combine images from magazine pages with words, phrases and clauses on a single page to create a free verse poem. The objective is to create a mood or inspiration. Learn more and see examples poetrytennessee.org/eye-poems.html.
Mr. Seth Grindstaff is this year’s Student Contest Coordinator; he advises that contest submission deadlines vary by category and grade levels, from December 2021 to February 2022. The PST Student Contest Brochure, available at poetrytennessee.org/student-contests.html, outlines contest details, including specific deadlines, formatting requirements and submission methods.
One of PST’s central values is to encourage young poets. As a teacher in Sullivan County, Tennessee, Mr. Grindstaff invites students, teachers and parents to become involved: “We often have language arts teachers submit their students’ work after a class unit on poetry. However, the contest is also a great opportunity for home-school organizations and clubs to explore poetry. We also accept individual student submissions.”
For more information about the society and contest, visit www.poetrysocietytennessee.com. Questions about the contest may be directed to Mr. Grindstaff at seth.grindstaff@sullivank12.net. Questions about PST may be directed to Lori Goetz at poetrytennessee@gmail.com.