Call for entries: Poetry contest for Highline students and recent graduates
Do you write poetry? Are you a Highline student or recent graduate? Enter Highline College’s annual Poetry Contest for a chance to win a cash prize and have your poem published. Prizes will be awarded to ten poets; award amounts range from $125 (first prize) to $25 (seven finalists).
The contest is a prelude to Highline College’s celebration of National Poetry Month that will take place in April 2015. Each poem will be displayed on a broadside in the Highline Library’s Exhibit and Art Gallery. Contest winners and finalists will have their broadsides hang alongside published poets Joseph Green, January O’Neil and Brian Turner.
The ten poets will be provided with a copy of their broadside and another copy will be part of Highline’s permanent collection. Winners will also have the opportunity to read their work during a reception in the gallery on April 8 at 1:30 p.m.
What is a broadside?
Loosely defined as single sheets of paper printed on one side, broadsides were the most diverse form of brief, single-occasion publishing before the Civil War. Although broadsides were first introduced in England, they became a prime means of communication in the United States, often posted in the town square. Advertisements, song lyrics, commentaries, cartoons, and poems were printed and posted in towns across the nation. Later, Harlem Renaissance, Concrete, and Beat writers claimed the broadside as a below-the-radar way to get their words out onto the streets.
Submission guidelines:
- Submit poems about any subject.
- Keep poem length to no more than 20 lines. Poems must be able to fit onto an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper. Poems can be shorter than the 20 line maximum.
- Type your submission.
- Submit up to three poems that have not been previously published; include on each “Student Poetry Contest 2015.”
- Include name, email address and phone number on each submission.
- Submit your poem(s) one of three ways:
- Email to shashimoto@highline.edu; include Student Poetry Contest 2015 in the subject line;
- Deliver to Sharon Hashimoto in Building 5;
- Send to Sharon Hashimoto, Student Poetry Contest 2015, Highline College, P.O. Box 98000, MS-5, Des Moines, WA 98198-9800.