NC State Poetry Contest Seeks Entries

Calling all North Carolina poets!

The NC State Poetry Contest, organized by the university’s creative writing program, is accepting entries for its 2016 competition.

This year’s guest judge is Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa, who will announce the winners and read from his work at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 7, in Withers Hall Auditorium (Withers 232A), NC State campus, 101 Lampe Drive in Raleigh.

The contest is open to all North Carolina residents, except tenured/tenure-track professors in the University of North Carolina system; writing instructors teaching at NC State (teaching assistants and graduate students are eligible); poets with a published book by an independent press; and previous winners.

Poets have until Tuesday, March 1, to submit their works. Participants may submit up to three typed poems, not exceeding four total pages of poetry. All poems must be titled. In addition, no emailed entries are accepted and due to the volume of submissions, NC State cannot contact each contestant to return stories.

Previous finalists must submit new work. And so their poems can be judged anonymously, all entrants should not include their name on their poems. Rather, entrants should include their name, email address and phone number on a cover sheet, along with any additional contact information.

One grand-prize winner ($500) and four honorable mentions will be chosen. The contest will also award special prizes for graduate and undergraduate student winners.

For more information, visit go.ncsu.edu/poetrycontest.