Submission Fee: $10 for two poems
1st Place: $250
2nd Place: $100
3rd Place: $25
Honorable Mentions: Up to 20 poems will be selected as honorable mentions.
All winners and honorable mentions will be published in the Nebraska Poetry Society’s online publication, The Poet Rabble.
Guest Judge: Benjamin Gardea
Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. B-Jam is the AZ State Poetry Society's 2023 State Poetry Slam champion. A 2023 top 10 nationally ranked slam poet. The host/producer of the PHX Poetry Slam by B-Jam. Producer/host of the Backstreet Jam Open Mic Show. Organizer/host of the 2024 BlackBerry Peach National Poetry Slam AZ Championships. He curates several writer's workshops across the valley, and has been featured at several events including Arizona State University and PBS. His mission is to be a part of the poetry/art community and be a caretaker of the artform for future generations to explore and experience.
Submission Guidelines
Submissions will close as soon as we receive 100 entrants or on July 31, 2024, whichever comes first.
Eligibility:
- Submissions are open to anyone. You do not need a connection to Nebraska or have a Nebraska Poetry Society membership.
- You must be 18 years of age to enter.
- A printed copy must accompany the video, and both should be named identically with: firstname_lastname_titleofpoem
- Videos must be at least one minute long and no more than three minutes long.
- Video can only include your work. Do not start with an explanation of your work. Your poem should stand alone without any explanation. Trigger warnings are not necessary.
- You may submit as many poems as you wish, but you cannot submit the same poem more than once in any of our contests. In other words, if you submitted the poem to our “2023 Open Poetry Contest,” you cannot submit the same poem to the “2024 Performance Poetry Contest.”
- Videos can be in any language, provided it includes English subtitles. Printed copies must be in English.
- You may submit videos published previously on the internet or used in other competitions. Please be aware that the judge is looking for new and surprising work. If your video has been widely circulated online, it will not be new or surprising to the judge.
- Collaborative poems are accepted.
- All work MUST be original and written by the performing artist. The poet must own all rights to the submitted work, including text, audio, video, and images.
- Video montage of images is not accepted. We want to see you performing your work.
The nonrefundable submission fee is $10. This includes one (1) poem.
The submission fee is a tax-deductible donation to the Nebraska Poetry Society, a non-profit organization whose mission is to make poetry accessible to all. You do not have to be a member of the Nebraska Poetry Society to submit or have any connection to Nebraska. The submission fee includes a subscription to our quarterly newsletter.
Formatting: On your printed copy, please use a 12-point Times New Roman font. Format the poem as you would like us to read it, using line breaks, etc. The poems are judged by the video only. The printed version lets the judge spend more time with your work, re-read it for clarity, etc. Most common video file types are accepted. Files must not exceed 1GB.
Winners will be announced by September 30, 2024. You will be notified of your submission as the contest progresses. Notification will be through Submittable using the name and email address you provide when submitting.
Video Tips:
- Please use high-quality audio and video to ensure the judge can correctly see and hear your performance.
- Film your video inside in a well-lit and quiet area with no distracting backgrounds. The judge should be focused on you and not an image in the background.