National Federation of State Poetry
Societies, Inc.
Manningham Trust Student Poetry Contest
Rules: 2024 annual
competition
Ten prizes will be awarded in each
division: First Place - $75, Second Place - $50, Third Place - $40, Fourth Place
- $35, Fifth Place - $30, and five Honorable Mentions - $10 each. All winning
poems
will be
published in the NFSPS Student Poetry Award Anthology. Winners will receive
complimentary copies. The schools of each winning student will receive a
complimentary copy for the school library.
There is no entry fee.
1. There are two divisions: Grade 6-8 (Junior Division) and Grades 9-12
(Senior Division). Competition is open to all qualified students. Poems may have
been previously published and/or have won previous awards.
2. The
competition is open to all USA students in grades 6 – 12. Public, private, and
homeschooled are eligible for entry by individual submission. Individual poets
may only submit one poem.
3. All entries must be entered through
Submittable, and the proper application form must be completed, indicating
poet’s contact information, school attended, & grade student is currently in.
All students can open a Submittable
account for no cost and there is no
entry fee for the contest. Go to www.nfsps.submittable.com and check the
appropriate grade level to submit.
4. Each poem must be neatly typed or
computer-generated and should appear on a single sheet. In order to fit on the
page line width limit is 60 characters, including punctuation marks and spaces
between words. Lines longer
than 60 characters will be wrapped with a
hanging indent by the editors. Any poem that exceeds the 60-character limit may
be disqualified. Because our printed format will be a 6 x 9 book, some winning
poems may end up printed
on more than one page. The decision of the judge
and/or editor is final. There should be no large or unusual fonts or
illustrations. Times New Roman is the suggested font. 12-point font should be
used.
5. The poem submitted must not have ID information. There should be
no indication of prior awards granted or publication information. Winners may be
asked for that information to be provided at the time of publication.
6.
Each entrant must make a declaration of originality. The statement will be
included in the Submittable application “I certify that this poem is my original
work and has not been copied in whole or part from any author’s poems in print
or posted on the Internet.
Signed:
__________________________________________
7. Entries must be received on
Submittable between September 15, 2024 and November 15th, 2024.
Notice of
winners will be sent to each winner’s member state society (President and/or
Manningham Youth Chair). Awards (certificates, checks, anthologies) will also be
mailed to the student. Each member state is responsible for
celebrating
their state’s winners. The top winning poems will be read at the Annual NFSPS
Convention held in July 2025.
Literary Standards. While we honor the
First Amendment right of free speech, be aware that the winning poems will be
published and distributed to school-age children. The use of inappropriate
language could disqualify an entry. The
decision of the judge is final.
Any questions can be directed to secretary@nfsps.net.