A BIG
CONTEST FOR
SMALL POEMS
Announcing a statewide CWC poetry contest beginning on October 1, 2024. Details are posted on the CWC website under CONTESTS. https://calwriters.org/
A BIG Contest for SMALL Poems | California Writers Club (calwriters.org)
AWARDS First Place $100 Second Place $50 Third Place $25
Billy Collins, past Poet Laureate of the U.S.A writes in his book, Musical Tables, “Whenever I pick up a new book of poems. I flip through the pages, looking for small ones. Just as I might trust an abstract painter more if I knew he or she could draw a credible chicken, I have faith in poets who can go short.” Here is an example of one of his poems from this book:
Falling Asleep
Walking backwards into a dark forest,
I sweep my footprints out of existence
with a large
weightless branch
GENERAL GUIDELINES
Submission period is October 1st to October 31st
- $10 submission fee for CWC members
- $20 for non-members
- Maximum 8 lines per poem (please no Haiku or Tanka)
- In addition to the 8 line poems, we will be accepting prose/flash of 75 words or less.
- This contest invites participation from writers of all genres. Any combination of prose and poetry in your submission is welcome.
- (The added line about the addition of the prose/flash will be on the website soon. However, we wanted you to have a heads up to this added feature for the contest.)
- Maximum 3 poems/prose poems can be submitted
- Typeface: Times New Roman 12-point font
- Format poems as Microsoft Word document
- Multiple poems must be submitted in a single document
- Each poem must have a title
- Poems must be original work of author
- Author name cannot appear in the Word Doc
- Detailed Guidelines will be on the CWC website in September
Judges
Les Bernstein, head judge, is an award-winning poet and anthologist whose poems have appeared in journals and anthologies in the United States and internationally. Her full-length book, Loose Magic, was reviewed by the Los Angeles Review of Books and is available on Amazon.
Steve Trenam teaches poetry writing in the Santa Rosa Junior College Lifelong Learning Program. An Affront to Gravity was published in 2021 by Blue Light Press. His poems have appeared in a number of print and online publications.
Robin Gabbert has poems published in multiple local, state and international anthologies. Her chapbook Diary of a Mad Poet came out in 2020 and a book of ekphrastic poetry The Clandestine Life of Painting in poems in 2022. She is a frequent speaker on ekphrastic poetry.
For questions please contact Les Bernstein at lessieb13@yahoo.com
