Each year, our parent organization, the National Federation of State Poetry Societies (NFSPS) offers several contests that may interest you as a member of the Georgia Poetry Society. If you are a member of GPS, you are automatically a member of the NFSPS as well. This only matters if you decide to enter their contests (you get to pay the member and not the non-member fee) or if you decide to attend the national convention.
These NFSPS contests exist at both the state and national level. Some states allow other state society members to enter their contests. You can see some examples of those here.
The national contests are open to anyone, NFSPS members or not. These typically run from January 1 until March 15 each year. The results are announced at the national convention, usually held in June. There are usually about 50 in all. See the contest brochure here.
A new initiative of the NFSPS is to enter the world of spoken word poetry. See information about the Blackberry Peach contest here.
Know any college undergraduate poets? The College Undergraduate Contests may interest them. Younger students have their array of contests too via the Manningham Trust.
Finally, if you have a collection waiting to be published, the Stevens Manuscript Contest may be for you.
Here’s hoping you enter AND WIN some of these varied competitions. Good luck!
