ARTICLES | POETRY WRITING CONTEST | PROMPTLY WRITTEN

PW’s 2023 Poetry Writing Contest

With prompts and monetary prizes

Greetings, me lovelies! Welcome to PW’s second contest of 2023! This one will be a poetry writing contest. Yes, there will be prompts, and yes, there will be monetary prizes! Let’s get into the details, shall we?

THE RULES

1. You must be a writer for Promptly Written to participate. If you still need to become a writer for PW, you can ask to be a writer on the Submissions Guidelines page. Please do not ask to be a writer in the comments of this contest.
2. The contest will run from May 1st — June 30th, 2023.
3. The announcement of the winners will be on July 15th, 2023.
4. You may submit up to three (3) poems in any style.
5. You must use ‘Poetry Writing Contest response’ as your Subtitle. Your Title can be whatever you wish it to be.
6. Each submission must be accompanied by a properly cited Image from a FREE image source (Unsplash, Pexels, or Pixaby) or created by you. (This should come after your Subtitle and before the body of your text.) Yes, you can use an AI-generated image. Yes, you can use personal photographs or artwork. All images you create must include ‘Image by Author”. Please add a link if you use an AI source or a program like Canva or Canva Pro.
7. Each poem should be error-free and single-spaced upon submission. Check your spelling, punctuation, and grammar. If you need to learn how to single-space a poem, please see Tip#3 of this tutorial.
8. Two of your Reader Interest Tags must be ‘Writing Contest’ and ‘Poetry’. The other three tags can be whatever you wish them to be.
9. You must include a link to the contest at the END of your poem.

THE PRIZES

There will be three monetary prizes.

FIRST PLACE — US $100 SECOND PLACE — US $50 THIRD PLACE — US $25

In order to receive your prize, you must be able to receive funds via one of the following — PayPal, Buy Me A Coffee, or Ko-Fi. There will be no exceptions. Do not enter the contest if you cannot access one of those three sources.

THE PROMPTS

You may use any of the prompts below for your poem(s).

1. Write a Nature-themed poem using one or both concepts — a summer scene and/or aquatic creatures.
2. Write a fantasy poem based on this concept — a battle for the heart
3. Write a motherly or fatherly poem.
4. Write a moody poem based on one of these emotions — bewildered, cantankerous, enthralled, or melancholy.
5. Choose a poetry prompt from anywhere on Medium and use it to write a poem. Note — if you use a prompt anywhere besides those in the contest, you must include a link to that prompt at the end of your poem. You can find extra prompts in my Happenings posts.

If you wish to challenge yourself, consider reading through these poetic forms provided by Writers Digest and choose one:

THE JUDGES

Ravyne Hawke, ADEOLA SHEEHY-ADEKALE, and Bella Smith ⭐

What We Will Be Looking For

1. If you followed ALL of the rules.
2. Engaging, genuine, and/or emotional poems.

You have two full months to write these. Make them epic!

What We Will Reject

1. Poems in which the rules are not followed.
2. Poems that do not include ‘TW’ (Trigger Warning) for explicit violence, denigration, physical/emotional abuse, or self-harm/suicidal ideation.

Please ensure you have your Private Notes (Tip #2 here) turned on in case we need to remind you of the rules. If you do not reply or comply, your poem will be disqualified.

There you go, me lovelies! We look forward to reading your poems over the course of May and June. Good luck to everyone who participates!

If you have questions or concerns about this contest, please feel free to contact me via email — [email protected]

Ravyne Hawke, EIC