In honor of Anne Bradstreet, the North Andover Poet Laureate Committee is announcing the 4th annual Anne Bradstreet Poetry Contest!
2024 theme is Words Changing Worlds with the Help of You!
Throughout history, poets have lived on the leading edge of revolutions. From Percy Shelley and William Blake to Walt Whitman and Maya Angelou, poets have found in their voices the power to inspire change in society, capturing the minds and hearts of individuals and communities around the world with passion for positive change and hope for better days. Whether via stanza, lyric, or epic, rhyming or unrhymed verse, poets have demonstrated that words can be not only powerful vessels for meaning in our personal lives, but incisive engines for greater good as well as greater ill in the world around us.
What would it look like if we used our words to inspire change for the good?
Given the sheer diversity of humanity, everyone has a unique voice that carries the potential to contribute something worthy and impactful to the world at large. This Spring, we are challenging the poets of North Andover to explore this power in their own voices. If you could write a poem that could change the world around you for the better, what would it be about? If you could craft an image with your words that will move others to take steps to heal broken communities and hearts, what shape would it take?
Poetry Prompts and Inspiration
Youth prompt ideas: https://annebradstreetpoetrycontest.wordpress.com/2024/03/21/younger-prompts/
Teen and adult prompt inspiration: https://annebradstreetpoetrycontest.wordpress.com/2024/03/21/older-prompts/
Official Contest Rules
- Open to all who either live, work or go to school in North Andover
- Submit in one of 5 age categories: Grades K-2, Grades 3-5, Middle School, High School, Adult
- The poems can be any style. They can be rhyming or free verse. Write a poem however the theme speaks to you.
- The top three in each category will be invited to perform their poems on the North Andover Common
- By submitting a poem, the author / parent / guardian gives the North Andover Poet Laureate Committee the right to publish the poems online and on the FB North Andover Poets page, and in a collected book of poems for the event.
- Parents/guardians of school age children have the right to approve what identifying information for school age children is published: 1) the name, school, and grade, 2) initials, school and grade, or 3) only school and grade is published.
- The poem copyright remains with the author.
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR POEM
- Email to: annebradstreetpoetrycontest@gmail.com
- Subject: Age Category (Grade K-2, Grade 3-5, middle school, high school, adult)
- Body: your name, email address, mailing address, age category, poem
- If sending an attached document, include the name and other information in each document
- Those without email address, ask an adult in the household with email to submit
CONTEST DATES
- May 4 Final date to submit poems
- May 10 Winners and finalists announced
- May 25 Award ceremony on the North Andover Common – Winners and finalists will read their poems. (June 1 rain date) Last year we had more than 120 people in attendance!
Email submissions and questions to annebradstreetpoetrycontest@gmail.com
The contest and poetry celebration is sponsored by the
North Andover Poet Laureate Committee
Karen M. Kline, Chair
Jason O’Toole, Poet Laureate
Anne Bradstreet Poetry Contest 