2019 Robert Frost Poetry Award
NOTE: THIS IS A MAIL-ONLY CONTEST, TO BE MAILED
TO THE LAWRENCE , MASS PUBLIC LIBRARY. SEE DETAILS BELOW.
no email or submittable entries please..
---------DEADLINE: LAST POSTMARK OF FEBRUARY 15th, 2019-----------------
GUIDELINES:
---Prizes will be awarded as follows:
--First Prize, $1000
Best 10 poems will be mentioned (others as honorable mention)
-----------------
The contest theme: "UNFORGETTABLE"
Robert Frost once said:
"
The right reader of a good poem can tell the moment it strikes him
that he has taken an immortIal wound – that he will never get over it.
"
The nostalgia for the moment you have with a great poem isn't just
a matter of great words or poetic style, though a personal style does help.
You are transfixed by some revelation, thought, or image,
whether it is good or bad, lovely or ugly.
Or perhaps, just a thought, caught, held, and examined.
You have been taken on a ride, to a place you will never quite return from.
There is a moment when you are drawn into the poem, and its thoughts enter you.
And we would add; it is the general public we want to stun, enlighten,
or engross. After all, how many hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions,
have been with Robert Frost on "The Road Not Taken", and stood at the
crossroads in their minds? How many references are there, direct or indirect,
to the meaning or inuendo inside "Mending Wall"? How many debates have
used this moment with a neighbor and a wall as a pivot-point, for decades?
A great poem is less about what it is
than ... what it does....to you, and especially to an audience.
We have never needed a call to think carefully more than now.
That's what we want, and why we read as a diverse group.
So......give it your best shot.
We can't wait to be changed.
Frost-like in impact, more than style.....
similarly memorable poetry can be seen from...(just a few examples)
Emily Dickinson (Because I Could Not Stop For Death)
Seamus Heaney (Digging)
William Carlos Williams (This Is Just To Say)
Rita Dove (American Smooth)
Tracy K. Smith (Garden of Eden)
Wherever you have been, real or imaginary, take is to that thought.
SEND YOUR POEM(s) BY POSTAL MAIL:
----Send originals of up to 10 poems of up to 50 lines each,
(12 point font, 8.5x11 page)
----Send one copy of each poem with no contact information.
----Send a second copy of each poem with name, address, email,
phone #, etc. at the top of the page
---- Include a check for $8 per submitted poem
(check made out to: Robert Frost Foundation)
---- Mail to:
Robert Frost Award
Lawrence Library
51 Lawrence St
Lawrence MA 01841.
Additional guidelines:
•Poems should be postmarked between
October 1 (2018) and February 15 (2019)
to be considered for the yearly award.
•Prior published work (nationally visible in print,
online, or contest mention) is not allowed.
(tuning up poems this missed before,
circulating in critique groups,
or practicing at open mics is aok, and is recommended!)
•Manuscripts will not be returned
•Submissions with poems that do not comply will be discarded.
(rest assured, the check will be discarded as well....not deposited)
•Winners (and the websites)
will be notified in late March 2019
of the judges' decisions
•The Robert Frost Foundation will have the right to publish the poem,
in the announcements, online, and in promotional activities. All other rights
of publication will revert to the author.
•For a list of winners, please visit frostnewsline.blogspot.com
and look for the article title mentioning the prize winners.
(Or look at this blog)
•Officers and Directors of The Robert Frost Foundation
as well as festival organizers are not eligible to enter the award.
•Entries will be read and judged by members of the Frost Board
Contestants under 18 years of age not allowed unless there is an
accompanying note from parent or guardian.
----------------------------------------
Frost Foundation Poetry Prize: history
2018 Jerome Gagnon , "Cherries, After"
2016. [ No competition]
2014. "Roadsiding Hay" by Franklin Zawacki
2013. "November Guest" by Alfred Nicol
2012. [No competition this year.]
2011. "Constellation" by Sally Albiso
2010. "The Great Disappointment" by Adam Tavel
2009. "Crossing to Fox Island" by Gregory Loselle
2008. "Double Wedding Ring" by Elizabeth Klise von Zerneck
2007. "Henry Jones of Wales" by Barbara Adams
2006. [poem] by Rob Smith
2005. "The Effects of Light on a Woman's Body" by Susan Somers-Willett
2004. "To do to Beans" by Megan Grumbling
2003. "Aristaeus" by Ned Balbo
2002. "Sheepdog Trials at Bleanau Feistenog" by Deborah Warren
2001. "First Light" by Vivian Shipley
2000. "Overheard" by Len Krisak
1999. "Echolation" by Diane Thie
1997. "Visiting Frost's Grave" by Patricia Fargnoli
