Feb 26, 2013: Submissions have closed for the 2013 (3^rd annual) String Poet Prize.

Submission Guidelines

Up to 40 lines, all forms accepted. No previously published poems, or poems that have won previous prizes.  Winner receives $200 and composition of original music by professional composer inspired by the winning poem, to be performed live at awards ceremony. Winner and Runners-up published in Spring 2013 issue of String Poet and invited to read at the Award Ceremony in May 2013; all contest submissions are considered for publication in journal.

Entry Fees: $10.00 for up to 3 poems, $15.00 for up to 5 poems, $20 up to 7.
Submissions deadline: February 25, 2013

Final Judge: George Held is a widely published fiction writer, satirist, translator, book reviewer, and a poet who has received seven Pushcart Prize nominations. He was a three-year Fulbright lecturer in Czechoslovakia and has served on the board of The South Fork Natural History Society since 1991. His fifteenth book is After Shakespeare: Selected Sonnets (Červená Barva Press, 2011). His most recently published book is Neighbors: The Yard Critters Too (Filsinger & Company, 2013), the second volume of animal poems for children, illustrated by Joung Un Kim.

Composer: Eleanor Cory‘s work has been recognized by awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Fromm Foundation of Harvard University, Aaron Copland Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, Morse Grant of Yale University, MacDowell Colony, and PSC-CUNY Research Foundation. She has received an American Composers Alliance Recording Award, the Miriam Gideon Award from the International Association of Women in Music, as well as prizes from the Hollybush, Kucyna, and Music of Changes International Competitions, and the Davenport, and New Jersey Guild of Composers Competitions. She has composed musical setting of poems by James Merrill, Marvin Bell, Robert Creeley, Rachel Hadas, Mark Strand, Octavio Paz, W.S. Merwin, David Ignatow, Muriel Rukeyser, and Wallace Stevens. Her poems have been published in Iambs and Trochees and Poetry Porch: Sonnet Scroll. She currently teaches Composition at Mannes College of Music.

Last year’s String Poet Prize was awarded to J. D. Smith for his poem, “Upkeep,” which was set to music by composer Barry Tognolini. Mr. Tognolini performanced his composition, “Tristezza,” following J. D. Smith’s reading of “Upkeep,” to a rapt audience.

Online Submissions

Submissions should be made, along with the entry fee, by 11:59 PM PST on February 25, 2013.
Payment: Use the shopping cart on this page to send payment by credit card or PayPal. Make sure you choose the correct amount based on the number of poems you are submitting. If your PayPal email address does not match the email used to send your poems, please make note of that in your contest submission email.
Submissions: After completing payment, send a single e-mail with your poem(s) to contest@stringpoet.com. Poems should be included in-line as text within the email body. Attachment formats accepted: PDF (.pdf), Rich Text (.rtf), Word (.doc), or plain text (.txt). Include your name and contact information in the body of the email, or as a separate cover page within the attachment.

Postal Submissions

Send your poem(s) and payment, postmarked on or before February 25^th, 2013 to:
String Poet Prize c/o Long Island Violin Shop
8 Elm Street
Huntington, NY 11743
Checks payable to “String Poet” drawn from a U.S. Bank.   Author’s name and contact information typed on the BACK of each submitted page. Include a SASE or your email address if you would like to be notified of contest results, or subscribe to String Poet. Hardcopy entries cannot be returned, and will be recycled.

String Poet is pleased to announce the results of the 2012 String Poet Prize, as chosen by final judge Kim Bridgford. We thank all those who entered, and offer congratulations to the winners, honorable mentions, and finalists.

First Prize:

“Upkeep” – J.D. Smith

Second Place:

“The Strauses Return to Broadway” – Patricia Brody

Third Place:

“Palimpsest: Fez” – Maxine Silverman

Honorable Mentions:

“Mourning at the Kaldi Café” – Carol Louise Munn
“The Taste of Tea” – Muriel Harris Weinstein

Look for these folks, along with other String Poet Prize finalists and fine poets in the forthcoming issue of String Poet, and also see our 2012 String Poet Prize Award Ceremony.

Submission Guidelines

March 29, 2012: 2012 String Poet Prize Results announced.

Feb 25, 2012: Submissions have closed for the 2012 String Poet Prize

Up to 40 lines, all forms accepted.  Contest theme: “Remembrance.” No previously published poems, or poems that have won previous prizes.  Winner receives $200 and composition of original music by professional composer inspired by the winning poem, to be performed live at awards ceremony. Winner and Runners-up published in Spring 2012 issue of String Poet and invited to read at the Award Ceremony on May 25^th; all contest submissions are considered for publication in journal.

Entry Fees: $10.00 for up to 3 poems, $15.00 for up to 5 poems.
Submissions deadline: February 25, 2012

Final Judge: Kim Bridgford. Dr. Bridgford is the director of both the West Chester University Poetry Center and the West Chester Poetry Conference. She is editor-in-chief of Mezzo Cammin, and founder of the Mezzo Cammin Women Poets Timeline Project, designed to become the world’s largest database of women poets. She is the founder of the literary journal Dogwood, and is the author of five collections of poetry, including In The Extreme, winner of the Donald Justice Prize.

Composer: Australian pianist and composer Barry Tognolini has been performing professionally since the age of thirteen, when he became a regular guest on a TV variety program showcasing young talent in Perth, West Australia. Since that time, he has enjoyed a varied and rewarding career, referred to by New Idea magazine as “pianist to the rich and famous.” Barry has performed with Celine Dion in a concert for children in Perth, and with Andrea Bocelli, Sara Brightman, Lara Fabian and Katherine McPhee at an exclusive concert at the Dallas Country Club. Barry has performed on the QE2, has toured with the African Children’s Choir, and has guest starred at the New South Wales Premier’s Concerts in the Sydney Entertainment Center- an event that attracted over thirty thousand patrons. However, his most memorable touring performance was a concert in Tirano — a little village high up in the Italian Alps where his ancestors once lived. Having released previous CDs with Sony Music Australia as well as his own label, Barry’s latest recording project is “Treasure Road,” a 24-track double CD collection featuring both well-known and original compositions.

Last year’s String Poet Prize was selected by finalist judge Patricia Fargnoli, and awarded to Pramila Venkateswaran for her poem, “Kummi Dance,” which was set to music by composer Beth Anderson. At the awards ceremony, judge Patricia Fargnoli gave a reading, along with Ms. Venkateswaran and the other contest finalists. The evening culminated in a performance of Beth Anderson’s “Kummi Dance,” performed by Beth Anderson (piano) and David Wong (violin).