Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest (2024)

Poems written with the aid of a text-generating AI such as ChatGPT are not eligible.

For the purpose of the Margaret Reid Prize, a poem in a traditional style employs regular meter and/or rhyme, or is written in a recognized poetic form. This includes traditional Western forms such as ballads, sonnets, and blank verse, and Asian forms such as tanka and haiku.

For your reference, thisGlossary of Poetic Termsdescribes many forms. You may also enjoy sites for traditional and exotic forms of poetry found on ourresource pages.

Prizes and Publication
The $3,500Tom Howard Prizewill be awarded for a poem in any style or genre.
The $3,500Margaret Reid Prizewill be awarded for a poem that rhymes or has a traditional style.
Ten Honorable Mention awards of $300 each will also be made (any style).

You do not have to specify which categories your poems should be considered for when you enter. Our judges will automatically consider your poems in the categories that best favor them.

Length Limit
Each poem should not exceed 250 lines in length. Exclude the title and blank lines from your count.

Most Countries Eligible; English Language
Due to USgovernment restrictions, we regret we are unable to accept entries from authors in Syria, Iran, North Korea, Crimea, Russia, and Belarus. Authors from all other countries are eligible. The poems you submit should be in English. If you have written a poem in another language, you may translate your poem into English and submit the translation.

Anonymous Judging
Entries are judged anonymously. Please omit your name and all identifying information from your entry. Do not include a cover letter. Please also omit any publishing credits from your entry. All the information we need is collected on our online entry form. Here is a brief video describing how we judge entries anonymously.

No Age Restriction
Poets of all ages may enter.

Privacy
Yourprivacyis assured. We will not rent your information to third parties.

Copyright
If your entry wins any cash prize, you agree to give Winning Writers a nonexclusive license to publish your work online. This includes possible publication in one or more ebooks, with attribution. From time to time, selected winning entries may also be published in printed collections. If you win a prize and we wish to publish your work in print, we will ask you for permission to include your entry in one of these books. You may accept or decline this invitation as you choose. Your entry will not be published in print without your consent, and you retain all other rights. You are free, for example, to publish your work in print or online elsewhere, and to enter it into other contests, whether or not you win a prize in this contest.

Refunds
Generally, entry fees are not refundable. However, if you believe you have an exceptional circ*mstance, pleasecontact uswithin one year of your entry.

Contest History
Contest founder John Howard Reid (d. 2018) won first prizes and other awards in prestigious literary events. A journalist and magazine editor, he published several historical novels, a collection of poetry, a guide to winning literary contests, and over fifty books of film criticism and movie history. For several years, Mr. Reid was assisted by Dee C. Konrad, a former Associate Professor in the English faculty of Barat College of DePaul University and Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences.