$20,000 poetry contest

For all you english poets, the Montreal International Poetry Prize is up for grabs. Details are at the bottom of this article but I thought you might want to know a bit about the prize before entering.

The Montreal International Poetry Prize is a not-for-profit grassroots organization “committed to encouraging the creation of original works of poetry, to building cross-national readership and to exploring the world’s Englishes.” Its stated goal “is to turn the traditional patronage model on its head, and deliver a major annual poetry prize funded directly by poets themselves.”

The prize is funded through an original anonymous donation of $50,000.  Its continued funding is through other donations, the purchase of its Prize Anthology ($18 for the 2011 edition), and the price of entering the contest.

An interesting angle to this competition is that the entry fee differs from country to country. Here’s their explanation:

The Montreal Prize is meant to be a truly global effort and so we’ve tried to take account of the fact that some countries are richer than others. In order to be as objective as we can in the allocation of the different fees, we’ve used the UN Human Development Index to distinguish between developed and developing nations.

Here are the rules:

• You have to have reached the age of majority in your country (in Canada that’s either 18 or 19)
• the poem must be original, yours, and simultaneous submissions are not eligible
• no more than 40 lines long (title doesn’t count)
• Early bird deadline is March 31, final deadline is May 15. (you get discounts for early entries)
• In Canada, the cost of your first entry is $25 or $20 if you enter before Mar 31. Each subsequent entry costs you $10. (On-line entries only. You have to create an account to enter — http://www.montrealprize.com/app/submit/enter)
• You can enter multiple times and it is possible to have more than one of your poems chosen for publication
• Through blind judging, a group of editors picks the best 50 entries to be published in the anthology. A final judge chooses the best one of the 50 to win the $20,000 grand prize.

For more information, or if you have questions about the contest go to:  http://montrealprize.com/competition/judging-process/

You can roam around their site, use their FAQ page or check out the credentials of the final judge and the editorial board.