10th Annual Poetry Contest!

10th Annual Poetry Competition
$100 First Prize

Roanoke, VA – Virginia’s Roanoke Valley Branch of the National League of American Pen Women, winner of the 2009 Perry Kendig Award, is pleased to announce its 10th Annual Poetry Competition.

This year the organization is celebrating Women in the Arts and all poems should address this as the theme of the work.

Proceeds from the Poetry Competition fund an annual scholarship, given to adult women who have returned to school.

Postmark deadline for entries is July 30, 2010. Cost per poem is $5.00; make checks payable to Roanoke Valley Branch, NLAPW. Prizes are $100, $75, $50 and Honorable Mention $5. Rules are available at http://roanokepenwomen.blogspot.com. Entries which do not adhere to the rules will be disqualified.

Rene Parks Lanier, Jr., Professor of English emeritus at Radford University, will judge the poems. Professor Lanier served for many years as Poet-in-the-Schools at numerous Virginia counties and has been published in many small press and academic magazines. He also served five years as president of the Appalachian Writers' Association.

Here are the complete rules:

Entry Deadline: Postmark July 30, 2010
Poems will be accepted from April 15, 2010 to July 30, 2010

Theme: Women in the Arts
Any Form
Line Limit: 40*

RULES:

1) Only original, unpublished poetry accepted. Websites are considered publishing.*

2) Submit 2 copies of each poem, typed on 8 ½" x 11" paper, Times New Roman 12 point type, single space, flush left, black ink. No bold in text. Name, address, telephone number and e-mail address on only one copy.* Entry by e-mail is not allowed.

3) Contest entry grants permission for a one-time non-exclusive right to publish winning entries in any future Roanoke NLAPW publications.

4) Winners will be notified by September 30, 2010.

5) Entry Fee: $5.00 per entry*. No limit to number of entries but payment must accompany each entry. Make checks payable to Roanoke Valley Branch, NLAPW.

6) Prizes: $100, $75, $50 and Honorable Mention $5.

7) Winning poems will be read at the November 2010 meeting of Roanoke NLAPW. Proceeds from the contest will be used to help fund a scholarship.

8) Names of award winners will be available on the website, roanokepenwomen.blogspot.com, only. Poems will not be returned.

Mail entries to:
Co-Chairman, Peggy Shifflett
700 Cherrywood Road
Salem, VA 24153

Visions and Voices, Pens and Brushes, an anthology of previous winning poems, is available for $10.00 each plus $2 shipping. (Virginia residents add .50 sales tax) Please mail requests to Margaret DuBois, P.O. Box 388, Salem, VA 24153-0388.

*Incorrectly submitted poems will not be considered and entry fees will not be returned.

Please note that a list of winners' names will be posted at roanokepenwomen.blogspot.com by October 15, 2010. The poems themselves will not be posted.