ALABAMA STATE POETRY SOCIETY 2025 SPRING CONTESTS

1. ALABAMA STATE POETRY SOCIETY SPRING CONTEST (Sponsored by ASPS)
*THIS CATEGORY IS OPEN TO PAID MEMBERS ONLY
$75, $50, $25, $10, and 3 Honorable Mentions in order of merit;   Any form, Any subject, No line limit.

2. OTIS DEES POETRY AWARD (in honor of Otis Dees, Mvskoke, father of sponsor Dr. Deidra Suwanee Dees)
$400 - Humken (first), $300 - Hokkolen (second), $200 - Tecenen (third), $100 - Osten (fourth)
Subject: Native Americans               Any form, No line limit.
Indigenous Poets and Poets of Color are especially encouraged to enter, but all are welcome.

3. A CHILDHOOD MEMORY (Sponsored by W Roger Carlisle)
$100, $75, $50, and Honorable Mentions at judge's discretion.
Subject: A Childhood Memory          Any form, No line limit.

4. SHORT PROSE POETRY CONTEST (Sponsored by Sue Brannan Walker and Saundra Scribner Grace.)
$100, $50, $25 and 3 Honorable Mentions
Form: Prose Poems no longer than 20 lines           Any subject, Line limit 20.

5. BIBLE STORIES (Sponsored by Renee Palmer)
$70, $30, $15                            Any form, Line limit 30.
Subject: Poem based on Bible story or Bible verse. Note chapter and verse at start of poem.

6. THE "HOPE AGAINST HOPE" AWARD (Sponsored by Susan Luther)
$50, $50, $50 (Three equal awards), Honorable Mentions at judge's discretion
"Fear and hope are bound up with each other. Losing hope, we lose fear as well -- [we feel]
there is nothing [left] to be afraid for."
-- Nadezhda Mandelstam, from her memoir of Stalinist Russia, Hope Against Hope.
Subject: Respond positively to Mandelstam's words, explicitly or implicitly. For example, the
poem might describe an instance of survival against great odds; it could be a direct address to
fear and/or hope; or it could explore the theme in other, non-despairing ways.
Any form, Line limit 55

7. THE "ANYTHING GOES" AWARD (Sponsored by Susan Luther)
$50, $40, $30, $20, $10 and Honorable Mentions at judge's discretion
Any form, Any subject, Line limit 40.

8. "ONE WAY STREET AWARD" (Sponsored by Mike Wahl)
$50, $35, $25 and 3 Honorable Mention
Subject: One Way Street, taken in whatever context that will most inspire your poem, such as
actual, emotional, spiritual, dreamt, or combinations thereof.      Any form, Line limit 32

9. PRIMAVERA: THE RITES OF SPRING (Sponsored by Pat Launius)
$50, $30, $30, and 1 Honorable Mention $10
Subject: Any annual Spring event, work of art or music, or natural phenomenon.     Any form, Line limit 60.

10. THE BKC AWARD, In memory of Bettye K. Cannizzo (Sponsored by Jessica Temple)
$50, $30 $20, and Honorable Mentions at judge's discretion.
Subject: Surprises from Mother Nature       Any form, Line limit 40

11. POEMS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE (Sponsored by Mike Turner)
$50, $30, $20 and 2 Honorable Mentions
Subject: “The Responsibility of Freedom”        Any form, Line limit 30

12. IT'S A MYSTERY (Sponsored by Beth Sherrill)
$50, $25, $15, $10, Honorable Mentions at judge's discretion
Subject: Something that is difficult or impossible to understand        Any form, No line limit

13. ANDRE BRETON'S SURREALIST FRANKENSTEIN (Sponsored by Lori Hamilton)
$50, $25, $10, and 1 Honorable mention
Subject: Surrealist poem about losing a body part to cancer: What if you lost a breast or another body part to cancer? What would you replace it with, and why? -- a typewriter in place of a breast, an ATM machine in place of a uterus, etc., so every time someone touched your chest, they would be typing a poem, or they would get a $20 bill if they touched your stomach where your womb used to be.      Any form, Line limit 53 lines

14. IN HONOR OF PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER (Sponsored by Dargan Ware)
$40, $25, $10, Honorable Mentions at judge's discretion
Subject: Write a poem about second acts – about how to take not doing as well as you might have liked at one thing and turning that into doing something else special. It can be about famous folks, or you personally, or someone you know.       Any form, Line limit 50

15. GRANDS (Sponsored by Dr. Emory D. Jones)
$25, $15, $10, Honorable Mentions at judge's discretion
Subject: Either grandchildren or grandparents           Any form, Line limit 40

16. DESTINY FOR THE SOUL OF MAN (Sponsored by Myra Ward)
$25, $15, $10, Honorable Mentions at judge's discretion
Subject: Destiny for the soul of man            Any form, Line limit 28

17. THE PENNY HARDESTY MEMORIAL AWARD (Sponsored by Kirk and Jerri Hardesty)
$25, $15, $10, and 2 Honorable Mentions
Subject: Partnership      Any form, Line limit 50






RULES! (We gotta have rules, otherwise there is chaos.)
1. Deadline for entry was April 10, 2025. Entries must have been either postmarked or received online by that date.
2. Entry Fees:
    ASPS Members: $1 per poem.
    Non-Members: $5 per poem.
    No limit on number of poems whether member or non-member!
3. More than one poem can be submitted in any category, but only one poem per poet may win in a category.
4. The same poem may not be entered into more than one category.
5. Poems cannot have won a monetary award in a previous ASPS contest.
6. Poems cannot have been previously published, including online.
7. The line limit for each category is as stated in the contest, and if not stated, is 40 lines max. The title and following blank line are not counted in the total, but all other blank lines do count, as do prologues, epilogues, footnotes, etc.

Submission Guidelines:
By Mail:
Submit 2 copies of each poem on 8 ½ by 11 paper, using plain type and fonts only. On each copy, put category name and number in the upper left hand corner. On one copy only, put your name, address, e-mail, and “member” or “non-member” in the upper right hand corner. (Address labels are acceptable.)
** Postmark deadline was April 10, 2025 **
Submissions should be mailed to:
Jerri Hardesty, ASPS Contest Chair
1830 Marvel Rd.
Brierfield, AL 35035
Online:
Entries must have been submitted at alpoets.org before midnight on ** April 10, 2025. **
Create the documents as you would to mail, with two copies of each poem. Submit your entries as a single .pdf file. **3 April 2025, added note, To hopefully save you some time, this is not stated previously in the rules
for electronic submissions, where you will upload one PDF file, so it's not until you get to the submission page that you find there is a specific order for your entries. In the SINGLE PDF file, consisting of two instances of each poem, the first copy is with your name and information, the second copy of that poem is unattributed, with only the category at the top. The file should be labeled with the poet's name, following the format "Last First.pdf." To make this more clear, two copies of each poem, in order:  A named, A unattributed, then B named, B unattributed, etc. This means using headers and footer settings for name and address won't be possible without some annoyingly complex sections. The goal here is to make it as easy as possible for the contest chair, and that means a little more work on our end as poets.
If you would like a copy of the winners list, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the
contest chair. Winners will also be posted at alpoets.org.
See our website at AlabamaPoets.org for additional copies of this brochure and other information.
Questions? Complaints? Brilliant poetry-related thoughts? Email the contest chair at
wytrabbit1@aol.com