A poetry contest is hereby announced (for 2018 perhaps), coinciding with National Poetry Month. Middle and high school students can submit poems for this contest. English or Humanities teachers can set up this assignment for their students and they can submit between 1-10 students' poems to the address below. See the examples provided; it's best if students use the brainstorming sheet to begin writing. Homeschoolers are welcome to submit, too. Award-winning and accepted poems will be published electronically and distributed to teachers and students involved. First prize wins $100; and Honorable Mention are noted as such. Published poems will be identified by student name, school name, and town/city. Rights revert back to student-authors after publication. Certificates of Achievement will be sent to Award-Winning and Honorable Mention authors and to teachers of those students. Teachers can select up to ten poems from their classes for the contest and these should be sent together in one packet to the address below.
This contest has grown out of my appreciation for this assignment. My 8th grade students have written powerful and passionate poems inspired by Carl Sandburg's great poem "Chicago." Sandburg's poem starts with several capitalized names (epithets) that represent his beloved city, then goes into the city's undeniable downsides (corruption, hunger, crime, etc.), then challenges that negative assessment with a positive view of Chicago (a fierce slugger, laughing young fighter, etc.) and then concludes with the capitalized names/epithets. Students write about places they personally love, describing their positive and negative views of the place.
I've been teaching English for over 30 years and have studied poetry with Galway Kinnell, Louis Simpson, John Engels, and Hayden Carruth. Teachers can purchase a $3.00 "manual" for setting up the assignment here (it's at Teachers Pay Teachers) and this basically constitutes the cost for entering the contest. This "manual" (it's eight pages) has Sandburg's poem rendered as a script, a brainstorming sheet, and examples of poems written for this assignment. My own version of "Chicago" can be seen here.
Contest closes April 30, 2017. Submissions are sent to the address below. Include a SASE for acknowledgment / response. Individual poems and packets of poems will not be returned; students whose poems are submitted are, in effect, granting permission to have their poem published. All those entering the contest will receive the electronic publication.
On a separate piece of paper, each teacher needs to identify her or his name, school, school address, and email. Example:
Mr. Smith, English Department
1234 East Street
Super Middle School
Anytown, MA 01234
psmith123@gmail.com
In the upper right corner of each poem, single-spaced, this identification is important: the author's name and grade, and teacher's name, school name. Example:
Sarah Sample, Grade 8
Mr. Smith, English Department
Super Middle School
Anytown, MA 01234
Address for mailing of packets (or individual) poems: (10 poems max)
The Sandburg "Chicago" Poem Contest,
John Chamberlain, English Dept.
Jonas Clarke Middle School
17 Stedman Road
Lexington, MA 02421