The Tom Howard Poetry Contest for all styles & genres 

The Margaret Reid Poetry Prize for Traditional Verse

What is traditional? The judges' definition is loose rather than strict. We quote a poem from Margaret's book:

This page provides information on 

The Tom Howard Poetry Contest 

for all styles and genres

and

The Margaret Reid Poetry Prize 

for Traditional Verse

What do we mean by "traditional" verse? In short, one qualification is poetry that looks like poetry, not prose. Fox example:

love is a book

a hopeful dream

a tide of delight

or a gallant search

for sorrows unseen

Now that little verse of mine may not be good poetry. And traditionalists might well object to the absence of capitals and lack of any punctuation marks. But it looks like poetry, and therefore it is acceptable as an entry for the Margaret Reid Poetry Prize.

Another way of looking at "traditional" is to think of poetic styles and genres that have been fashionable for at least 50 years or more. This would include free verse. Here is a poem by Margaret Reid herself, taken from her book, "Song of the Wayward Wind":

LOVE SONG

  Yes, my love, I hear,

      of course I hear...

Your meaning gossamers

        across pauses

wraps around your words

     its sweetest nectar

     and my spirit dances

              dances

    through green valleys

              dances

 in the springtime chorus

       of your meaning

   dances white orchards

            of delight.

 Yes, my love, I hear. I hear

     between your words

        rich symphonies

And in the silent reach of mind,

         I walk with you

           through stars.

So here is another way of looking at "traditional". Poetry that uses repetition or some other formal or informal pattern that could involve rhyme, meter, length of line, or even simply the way the lines of verse are positioned! 

However, experimental forms are also welcome. The criteria once again is that the verse form must look like poetry, and (unless it has at least a whiff of poetic imagination) not have the appearance of a block of prose.

In short, about the only new verse forms that will not be accepted for the Margaret Reid Prize are prose poems or storoems. And the good news is that in the rare event the judges feel your entry does not qualify as "traditional", it will not be rejected but simply transferred to the Tom Howard Poetry Contest instead.    

SAILING IN THE MIST OF TIME is our fourth and very latest Anthology of Prize-Winning Poetry. Containing over 100 winning entries from both the Margaret Reid and Tom Howard Poetry Contests, this beautiful book normally costs only $16.50! That in itself is a bargain, but in a special promotion, Amazon and other online bookstores currently have this large-format, 194-page book on sale for a mere $9.95! The book is also available direct from the publisher for $16.50: http://www.lulu.com/filmindex

As noted above, the trade edition is now on sale in bookstores throughout the U.S.A., Canada and Great Britain. 

"Traveling" and "Across the Long Bridge" our second and third Anthologies of Award-Winning Poems are available at Lulu and are also on sale at Amazon, Barnes & Noble  and other leading booksellers. You will find a "Traveling" link for Amazon at the bottom of this page. To buy direct from the publisher, please use this link:

http://www.lulu.com/filmindex

Absolute-must reading for all competition contestants! A new, expanded edition of my famous handbook "WRITE WAYS TO WIN WRITING CONTESTS: How to Join the Winners' Circle for Short Story Awards, Poetry Prizes, etc." is now available direct from Lulu at http://www.lulu.com/filmindex 

Price is $12.50 for this edition. The normal trade edition is also now available. Buy from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other bookstores. Same price. You can click on the Amazon link below. What's $12.50 compared to increasing your chances of carrying off that $2,000 in cash First Prize? (If you prefer to purchase the first edition, please click the link below):

 

The 7th annual Margaret Reid Poetry Prize for Traditional Verse will open on November 15, 2009, and will close at midnight, June 30, 2010. A total of $5,350 will be awarded in prize-money for traditional verse as follows: 

First Prize: $2,000. Second: $1,000. Third: $500. Fourth: $250. Plus five High Distinction Awards of $200 each. Plus six Highly Commended Awards of $100 each. Fifteen cash awards in all, including that First Prize of $2,000.

Grand total: $5,350.

Song of the Wayward Wind is now on sale at Amazon and leading booksellers and also direct from the publisher at http://www.lulu.com/filmindex

The Margaret Reid Poetry Prize for Traditional Verse will open on November 15, 2009. Closing date: June 30, 2010. For full details and online submission and mailing address please click this link: http://winningwriters.com/contests/margaret/ma_guidelines.php

Total Prize money: $5,350 (as listed above).

Entry fee: $7 for every 25 lines (or part thereof). Blank lines and titles are not counted.

VERY FEW RESTRICTIONS 

Send as many poems as you like. No restrictions on length or subject matter. Poems must be your original work, but previously published poems and poems that have won prizes in other contests are welcome. "Traditional Verse" is loosely defined, and includes free verse, haiku and most other popular forms except prose poems and storoems. In other words, your entries should look like poetry (or like any of the 106 winning and commended poems published in "SAILING IN THE MIST OF TIME").   

Entry forms are not necessary, but by entering this contest you agree to abide by all its conditions. Decisions by the chief judge are final. 

Winners retain all rights and are free to accept or decline offers of free print publication in an anthology similar to SAILING IN THE MIST OF TIME, featured above. However, you must agree to publication of your winning entry on the Winning Writers website.

Entries must be POSTMARKED on or before July 1, 2010, or lodged online before midnight, June 30, 2010, Pacific Time.

Here are our Results for the 2008 Margaret Reid Poetry Prize that closed on June 30, 2008. The judges had a most difficult time selecting the final winners as so many vibrant entries were of such luminously high quality. We not only most heartily congratulate all those writers who figure on the lists below, but all who contributed such outstanding work to the Contest. You can read all the cash prize-winning poems at 

http://www.winningwriters.com/contests/margaret/2008/ma08_pastwinners.php

 These Results have also been posted at http://www.geocities.com/rastar330 

Final Results 2008 Margaret Reid Poetry Prize for Traditional Verse 

(closed June 30, 2008)

FIRST ($2,000).  Reena Ribalow, Jerusalem of Heaven, Jerusalem of Earth

SECOND ($1,000).  Louis Giron, I am a fado song

THIRD ($500).  Bernard Mann, Morning

FOURTH ($250).  Helen Bar-Lev, Two Zinnias

FIVE "HIGH DISTINCTION" ($200 each) in random order:

Frank Salvidio, English 379 Revisited

Johnmichael Simon, Las Meninas

Joyce M. Shepherd, Schubert's Sweet Symphony of a Woman

Aliene Pylant, To Botticelli

Debra Gundy, Watercolor Lighthouse

SEVEN "MOST HIGHLY COMMENDED" ($100 each) in random order:

Judith Ford, Haiku series

Tony Peyser, Different Businesses, Same Location

Sam McCarver, Preferences

Sandra Kasturi, Old Men, Smoking

Tim Napier, The Last Straw

Joseph Gorman, Fear's Profiteer

George Carle, Coal Dust Street 

Highly Commended (random order):

John Whitworth, Life at Eighty; John Whitworth, On the Deaths of Philosophers; Karen Winterburn, Call Out of Exile; Lawrence Kessenich. The Piano; Helen Bar-Lev, 15 December ; Helen Bar-Lev, A Hot Cup of Corn Soup; Helen Bar-Lev, Gloria; Daniel Wormhoudt, Morning in the Tropics; Hal Fleming, The Last Circus; Hal Fleming, Deer on the Fence Line; Joseph A. Soldati, From Huckleberrie -- A Favorite Cat; Annesley Downey, The electricity in Tony Bennett's eyes; Tom Berman, Hronov Homecoming 1994; Tom Berman, Hill; Elizabeth Davies, The Fox-Woman.

Commended (random order):

Ingrid Collins, Reflections of Healing; Ingrid Collins, Messages in Water; Ingrid Collins, Wind Traveller; Ingrid Collins, Eternal Sparrow; Ingrid Collins, Beyond, Behind. Before, Above; Ingrid Collins, The Wonderful Wizard; Karen Winterburn, Call Out of Exile; Tim Napier, River at Dawn; Daniel Wormhoudt, Moon Sonnet; Daniel Wormhoudt, Outbound; Daniel Wormhoudt, Weather; Leland James, Clocks of Sanity; Christina Lovin, Myth Information; Cecil Simpson, Church of Dreams; Bob Thornley, Does God Do Windows; Lionel Willis, Old Man Roberts; M.C. Gomez, Love Life Rumination; George E. Longenecker, California Desert Sestina; Bernard Mann, Meagan's Song;

Bernard Mann, The Passing of That Night; Sandra Kasturi, On Writing an Elegy for You; Sandra Kasturi, Merlin to Nimue; Sandra Kasturi, Five Cantos from the Prayer Book of Aphrodite; Karen Winterburn, Facets; Karen Winterburn, Song of Ascents; Karen Winterburn, Dance with Me; Lawrence Kissenich, The Artisan; Lawrence Kissenich, Harbinger; Lawrence Kissenich, Suicide of a Socialite; Louis Giron, Repetition Compulsion (Tosca); K.B. Ballentine, The Siren's Song; K.B. Ballentine, Before the Crossing; Mark Ambrose, Anniversary Gift; Mark Ambrose, Letter out of the Desert; Mark Ambrose, Saguaros on the Way to San Xavier Del Bac, the White Dove of the Desert; George L. Koynok, Mind's Obsession; Harry Bauld, Alaska; Harry Bauld, Boxer; Harry Bauld, Marriage; Harry Bauld, Twelve Rounds; Harry Bauld, Second Opinion, Harry Bauld, El Yunque; M.B. Powell, In Its Every Drop and in All Its Parts; Joyce Christopher, the Clearing; Lyle Roger North, Josiah Pritchard's Letter to His Wife; Lyle Roger North, Night Geese; Joyce M. Shepherd, The Mirror, Alzheimer's; Meryl Raw, Swimming Through; Tom Berman, To Every Poet His Unicorn; Temple Cone, Wharf; Norbert Hirschhorn, Earths Hum; Catherine Edmunds, Dusk; Susan L. Lipson, Prayer for Elsa, An Unknown Friend; Jeanette Stickel, The Pond; Leland James, Clocks; Philip Morre, How it Goes; Philip Morre, The First to Go; Raymond Southall, Living with the Lower Orders; Raymond Southall, Mickey Mouse; Raymond Southall, Not a Word to the Cabbage; Kenn Naegele, The Coward and the Lion; Kenn Naegele, Tears; Judith Frost, All we cannot Recall; Judith Frost, Water from the Well; Judith Frost, Temptation; Kevin Griffing, Ode To Sleep; Paul Hamill, "Childed": On a Word of Philip Larkin's; Paul Hamill, The Toilette; Brenda Cotroneo, Muse; Beebe Barksdale-Bruner, According to the Weatherman; Melinda Hipple, The Leading Trees; Max Merckenschlager, Men of Skins; Judy Rowley, Ned Kelly; Judy Rowley, A Thousand Wishes; Helen Bar-Lev, Judgment Day; Michaela Nomis, Childhood; Michaela Nomis, The Bartender; Michaela Nomis, The Last Day in August; Evangeline Auld, Heritage Sight; Arthur Powers, Poem Beginning with a Line from Our Daughter's English Composition; David O'Neal, I Tried to Write a Villanelle; David O'Neal, In the North Part of Vermont; Jerry Betts, A Brief Life of Henry VIII; Ron Ryan, Bluetiful You; Richard Bank, On Cleaning Out the Laundry Room; Yossi Faybish, Before Death; Yossi Faybish, Binary; Cleve Mathews, Meadow Measure; Sherri Peterson, Dragonflies; Corinne Cheatham, Heavenly Perfection; Ruth Sabath-Rosenthal, Transition; Ruth Sabath-Rosenthal, Slipping into Red; Anne Robey, I'll Cry Later in the Car; G.S. Westfield, Ojiisan; Michael Burch, For All That I Remembered; Michael Burch, The Divide; Michael Burch, O, My Redeeming Angel; David Pereda, My Dad; David Pereda, Bolero; Noel Crook, The Sunday Swim, Comanche Bluff, 1975; Martin Steele, Echo; Martin Steele, That Bus; Jeff Howe, Starlight on the Western Seas; Noble Collins, Skipping Stones at Wounded Knee Creek; Ned Condini, Osiris; Ned Condini, The Knight of Celano.

Primary Short List (random order):

Dominic Martia, Odd Sleepers; Don Kimball, Birch; Don Kimball, Tea Kettle; Rick Taylor, Never Alone in a Cemetery; David Filer, Pantoum at Jackson's Slough; Ann Rayburn, Abracadarius; Beth Paulson, Book Sonnet; Shirley P. Blackwell, Straddlin' Sons-o'-Guns; Isaac Graf, The Elements; Thomas A. West, Jr., All of It; Marylin Kitchen, An Artist's Crescent Moon; Marylin Kitchen, More; Marylin Kitchen, Who am I?; Ellen Peckham, Carnet De Balance; Frank Salvidio, Her Face; Frank Salvidio, His Study; Frank Salvidio. "In my mind's eye"; Frank Salvidio, Now; Frank Salvidio, Old DNA; Frank Salvidio, Shadowland; Frank Salvidio, You and I; Ellen Peckham, Fog - City of Myths; Ellen Peckham, Flora in Winter; Barclay Franklin, Pollock Versus "Cowboy" Artists; Sherri Peterson, Dragonflies; Maria Salnik, If, only if; Monya Williams, Can a man…; Lyn Montgomery, The Journey; Sharron R. McMillan, Doxology?; Sharron R. McMillan, I'm Passing By; Terence R. Seward, Nash Dash; Raquel D. Bailey, RENQUEL; Jeff Howe, Playing Polo; Bernard J. Rossi, Before the World Began; Wayne Lee, Years That Ask Questions; Suellen Wedmore, why talk; Suellen Wedmore, Keats at Times Square; Ginny Kaczmarek, Empty Houses II, New Orleans Spring 2006; Ginny Kaczmarek, The River Beckons; MollyBee Welkin, Homeless; Petra Loosli, Losing Control; Felicity Plunkett, Remembering; Brian Bentley, Days of Dust and Marbles; Brian Bentley, Letter to a Bride; Stella Wittstock, The Poet; Stella Wittstock, Mesopotamia; Stella Wittstock, The Cosmos; Stella Wittstock, My Mother, the Seamstress 2; Lisa Ferrara, The Magical Seahorse Voyage; Louis Giron, On a summer day, a lover; G.S. Westfield, Ojiisan; Teresa Tyler, Arm Wrestling With The Clock; Frank Ludwig, Killaspugbrone; Frank Ludwig, When Rock'n'Roll and I Were Friends; Monika Igali, Ode to Summer Days; Jocelyn Ortt-Saeed, Reflections on Language; N. Colwell Snell, Wild Horses; N. Colwell Snell, Legacy; N. Colwell Snell, Wild Asparagus; N. Colwell Snell, Killdeer, etc.; N. Colwell Snell, Hand Me My Shadow; Johannah Banham, Dumb with Doubt; Richard Hayes, Of First and Last; David O'Neal, In the North Part of Vermont; Sooja Jones, Tale Primordial. 

Secondary Short List (random order):

Alvina Tatevosian, Unrepeatable Cadences; Linda Neff, My Cat's Life; Keith McFarlane, revelations; Keith McFarlane, held fast; Ronald A. Collucci, We Fight; Tanya Reid, White Skin on My Hand; E.W. Bonadio, In a Mind's Eye; Luanna Poole, My Father's Summer Ending into Reality; Milo Russell, My Father's Son; Herron Miller, Words; Susan Horowitz, Myths and Months; Billie Watkins, The Shadowed Path; Sean Kadel, The Room with a Lover; Peter Boult, Suffer in Silence; Chelsey Adamson, Illusion; Sona Bingley, Journey of a Voice; Stanley E. Banks, After Katrina: The Bodies Are Rising; Stanley E. Banks: A Black and Blue Woman; Nancy Luisi, Margaret Mallory; W.H. Ryan, First Sonnet to Kate; W.H. Ryan, Easter Sonnet; Patrick Walker, Touched with Fire; Donald Rhody, The Autumn Wayside Rest; Donald Rhody, Shhhh…; Marilyn Lou Berry, The Mysterious Professor; Kim Wilson, Ode to emotion; Joy Zito Dovel, Love's Epitaph; MaryAnne Diorio, Be Still; E. Shaun Russell, Dissension; Michael Fenton, Heart's River; Charlotte Ostermann, My Shawl; Kelsey Terrill, Sonnet IV; Birthe Meyers, A Children's Easter Poem; Ashlee Holm, Just a Dream; Helen Stock, Beautiful Music; Stephanie Martin, Prodding for the Pain; Todd Fischer, Crying for a Vision; Carol Lavelle Snow, Half-Winged; Louis Brown, Hills; Louis Brown, Alaska; Michael John Walsh, Dream Sparrow; Barbara Ann Taylor, Perspectives; Cat Fleming, Conscience in the Bushes; Cat Fleming, Dreaming in Color; Cat Fleming, The Snowball; Louis Brown, Neglected Area; Arlene Rotter, The Death of Imagination; Mary Travis, Of Horse and Rider; Sheree Martines, Hearts in the Half Moon; Clifton Mather, Man's Inventions; Laurence W. Thomas, What We Are About To Receive; Laurence W. Thomas, Moment of Comfort; Laurence W. Thomas, Aubade; Holly Bilski, Second Harvest; Gina Forberg, the junior leaguers'; Gina Forberg, The Stars; Elizabeth Wallek, I Think I Knew Your Soul Before; Edward Beck, The foolishness of preaching (without a sermon); Marilyn Falk, Shadow Horses; K.S. Anthony, Winter Solstice; Andrew Usjak, My guest; Brooks Robards, Clouds over Scrubby Neck; Jeff Howe, How Is it?; John Davis Pilkey, From Newark; Rick Taylor, Aristotelian Musings; Rick Taylor, Club Rattle; Wanda Mae Shoap, Abyss; Gary Coon, small wonder; Dianne Bubb, What's in a Name; William Vollrath, Roses to the Poets; Ann Best, Nostalgia; Ronda Heard, Four Seasons; Heather McGonagle, Pinocchio; Jan Coar, I'm Sorry To Say; Carolina Taveira, Love; Carolina Taveira, The Fear of Reality; Carolina Taveira, 11 of September; Henry Ashley-Brown, Falling Man; Danielle Jones-Pruett, Metamorphosis; Susan L. Lipson, Neighborly Love; Susan L. Lipson, The Nature of Friendship; Camaron Wagner, The Forest; Alison King, Some trees are too tall for climbing; A.J. Hadari, Lines on a Wall of Stones Held by Steel Frame, Todmorden; A.J. Hadari, Salt; Catherine De Laney, Scribbler's Fantasy; Mike Scheidemann, To A Bushveld Bacchanalia; Mike Scheidemann, Along Sinai Desert Coast; Kylie Wilson, The Price of Petrol; Gadeeja Salasa, Life is worth living; Bernard J. Rossi, Fireworks from the hill; Constance Soltero, Night's Promise; Elizabeth Davies, The Amazon Aunt; Rosemary Bruffett, A Prison of My Own, Heather McGillivray, Cats Are Not See-Through; Heather McGillivray, Envy; Graham Lancaster, Beside the Lock; James Cox, Ten Love Poems; Gwyneth Box, Amor, Amor; Gwyneth Box, What Have I Got in My Pocket?; Rachel Olson, The Lay of Prudett; Sarah Lou Bonifacio, The Minoan Jar; Timothy Kennedy, Whisperdrum; David Phillips, The 1933 Penny; Olivia Stiffler, Villanelle to Mother; Karen O'Meara, Foreigners Balcony; F.G. Mulkey, The Cove; Dennis Norville, Penning My Last Poem; Dennis Norville, Getting To Be a Vegan; Grace Chan, Autumn’s First Day; Marcia Popp, Checkout; Joseph-henry Francis, Who Can Be Closer Than Jesus?; Joseph-henry Francis, He Loves This Way; William Pitt, A Healing Energy; Violetta Ekpe, Purple hearts and other things we seldom talk about; Violetta Ekpe, Family Reunion; Penelope Foran, Song of Union; Jennifer Morgan, Moonsong Villanelle; Steve Sullivan, Fog; Antonia Clark, Love Is a Kind of Food; Judy Blecha, God's Love Controls My Destiny; Sara Sharkey, And These Are Dreams; Michael Beebe, Suddenly Today; Michael Beebe; I Mourn for the Day that is Gone; Lynn Hoins, Tigers and Me; Lynn Hoins, Her Blue-Eyed Boy; Charmaine Cadeau, Hauntings; M. Higgs, Love; Frank McDonald, On Reading a Novel; Frank McDonald, Disillusion; Dara Moore, Worth the Waiting; William Wallis, Lines upon Reading Homer in Translation; Steve Dimeo, Going Through the Motions; Rachel Ballantyne, True Discovery; S.E. Ingraham, I Dreamed the Lake Again Last Night; Kristin J. Tenor, Peaches; Kristin J. Tenor, Fraction Right; Jerri Hardesty, Florida; Karen Livingood, Grace; Melinda Hickman, Hematite Wisdom; Edilson Alfonso Ferreira, The writing of our book; Sally Cook, My Light's a Precious Thing; Tammy Bjornson, My fallen angel 'n' me…; Janice P. Egry, Overwhelmed; M.K. Jeppeson, Still; M.K. Jeppeson, Thoughts Become Things; M.K. Jeppeson, The Return of the Healing Spirit; Nan Hunt, Rose in the Fire; Joyce Meyers, Square Azaleas; Joyce Meyers, Applies; Angelica Marquez, Dreary Days; Mick Terry, If the Holocaust Was a Myth (Where Is My Sister?); Mick Terry, If I Could Breathe; James B. Rosenberg, Autumn Twilight Embers; James B. Rosenberg, Bitter Lemon; John McBride, Storm Sestina; Robert R. Clark, Touch Your Hand; Charlesetta Williams, Reserved for Harvest; Brad Johnson, Ode to the Long Walk Home; Guy Reid, Sounds and Silence; James Ciletti, When a Poem Wears Muddy Boots; H. R. Coursen, Good Friday.