National Federation of State Poetry Societies

 College/University-Level Poetry Competition

Shirley Blackwell, Chair
P. O. Box 1352
Los Lunas, NM 87031
sonneteer@earthlink.net

Please Note Changes in Our College Competition
For many years NFSPS has offered cash awards and publication of winning manuscripts to two college poets.  That has not changed, but other aspects of the 2016 college competition are currently being revised.

Here is what we know we will offer:
 
MEUDT and KAHN AWARDS

Two winners will be chosen, one receiving the Edna Meudt Memorial Award; the other receiving the Florence Kahn Memorial Award. For each winner, prizes include:

·        $500 prize.

·        Publication of the manuscript as a perfect-bound 6"x9" chapbook that will be marketed through Amazon.com.

·        75 free copies of the chapbook.

·        Invitation to read from winning work at the 2016 NFSPS Convention, to be held June 9-13 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

·        $300 travel stipend, if attending the convention.

·        Complimentary registration for the entire convention. Complimentary dinner on Friday evening when the winners read.

·        Complimentary one-year membership in an NFSPS-affiliated state poetry society of the winner's choosing and in NFSPS.

·        Book release at the NFSPS annual convention. While a winner is present at the convention, he/she will be given help in selling books directly and/or in the convention book room and will receive all proceeds from those sales.

Here is what we know will change:
 

·     The submission period, previously January to mid-February, will now be December 1 through January 31 to permit participation by seniors graduating in the middle of the academic year.

·     Entrants will be expected to submit online at Submittable.com unless they receive the chairperson's prior approval (on a case-by-case basis) to send paper copies.

Here is what we know won't change:
    

·     Manuscripts will still contain ten (10) titled poems of no more than 46 single-spaced lines, counting title, any epigraphs, and spaces between stanzas.

·     Lines can be no more than 50 characters, counting punctuation and spaces between words.

·     Those eligible to enter are undergraduates who, during the submission period, are enrolled in a degree program in an accredited U.S. college or university.

Other variables are under consideration and will be decided soon, but we believe this notice provides enough information for writing instructors to alert their students now to this great opportunity.  Full guidelines and contest rules have been compiled; they will be posted on this site as soon as they have official approval, and they will be published in the October issue of the online NFSPS newsletter Strophes. Stay tuned. 

2015
 Winners 

Carlina Duan: Is a poet and journalist from Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has just completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Creative Writing at the University of Michigan, where she has won multiple Hopwood awards
and writing prizes; worked as an editor for her college newspaper, The Michigan Daily;and spent many sunrises on her purple bike. Carlina is one of the founding editors of Ann Arbor's Red Beard Press, a youth-driven publishing company.
She is also the co-author of the poetry collection Electric Bite Women (2013) with poet Haley Patail. In 2016, she will move to Malaysia to teach English as a U.S. Fulbright scholar.

Max Seifert: Is a creative writing student at the University of Iowa where he edits poetry for earthwords: the undergraduate review and interns with the International Writing Program. His work has previously appeared in Ink Lit Mag and plain china: national anthology of undergraduate writing. His improv troupe, Skinny Horses, and punk band, Riot Fire, are regulars in the Iowa City basement-show scene. This chapbook is the product of tireless support from his friends and family and the University of Iowa creative writing staff.