Sarah Mook Poetry Contest

Sarah Mook Poetry Contest for Students (Grades K-12)

Sarah Mook Poetry Contest for Students (Grades K-12) 2023, our nineteenth year! 

Once again, in a difficult year for teachers and students, we received more than 1,000 entries! Winning poems came from ten different states and from Paris, France! We are grateful for your support and hope to see even more poems in 2023. I know first-hand that poetry matters, and these young voices especially matter. I feel proud to encourage and to support their efforts. Thank you, poets, and a special thanks to all the teachers, parents, and mentors too!   

Cash awards are $100 First Prize, $50 Second Prize, $25 Third Prize in each of four categories: kindergarten through second, third through fifth, sixth through eighth, and ninth through twelfth. Postmark deadline is March 31, 2023. 

Additionally, thanks to Sarah's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Olwen Jarvis, three kindergarten poets will receive cash awards to purchase books for their school libraries: First ($100), Second ($50), Third ($25). Kindergarteners who are not yet able to write will often compose orally. A scribe (older student, teacher, parent) can write down the young poet's exact words to capture these earliest spoken poems. Bees With Fish Wings is a beautifully illustrated children's book which includes all of Sarah's poems and worksheets to help young poets write their first poems!  

It is our custom to suggest an optional donation of $5.00. Those donations, payable to Sarah Mook Outreach Fund, will be given to the Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “inspire a love of reading and writing in children.” Thanks to your generosity, a donation of $400 was made in Sarah’s name last year. I am proud to support a mission so complementary to the purpose of our poetry writing contest. 

While cash awards and philanthropy are important, the purpose and focus of the contest is always the young poets and their poems. Careful consideration is given to every poem, and the finalists' poems are read numerous times before any decisions are made. We are fortunate, for a 16th year, to have Marie Kane as a final judge.   

CONTEST GUIDELINES:

1. Enter up to TWO POEMS (No more) of the STUDENT’S ORIGINAL WORK. Poems can be of any length, on any subject, and in any style. Poems should be typed or word-processed.

2. Please include a SEPARATE COVER SHEET with the student's name, grade, school name and address (HOME SCHOOLERS WELCOME) and the poem titles. The student's name, address, or school should not appear on the poems themselves.

3. Teachers: When submitting a class set of poems, please include your name, address and      contact information for the school, list of student names, their poem titles, grade level for    each student, and a self-addressed-stamped-envelope or email address to receive the results. 

Please note that a donation is optional. All poems received will be eligible for prizes. However, entries must be Postmarked by March 31, 2023.

Winners will be announced in late May.

Mail entries to: Sarah Mook Poetry Prize, 896 Ferncliff Road, Poultney, VT  05764 

We look forward to reading your poems!

Thank you, and stay well,

David Mook and Family