Skip to main content

2012 Ohio Poetry Day Poet of the Year


In our 75th year, Ohio Poetry Day offers a competition for the Diamond Webb chapbook award in lieu of our usual Poet of the Year.

Open to Ohio natives or residents who have never been named Poet of the Year, the award is publication of a 36-page chapbook to be produced in time for Poetry Day, October 19–20. Manuscript must be submitted on standard 8½ x 11 paper, but the book will be printed in the usual 5½ x 8½ size, so be aware of format. Individual poems may have been previously published, but not the manuscript in its entirety, nor may it be under consideration elsewhere.

The award will consist of 75 books to the winner, a plaque as the Poet of the Year and an invitation to speak at the Ohio Poetry Day luncheon, as other Poets of the Year have done.

Manuscript must be sent with two title pages, one with no poet identification, the other with name, address, and phone number (e-mail will not help the submission process, though it may assist in publication of the winner). Pages should be numbered and a table of contents provided. Divider pages or illustrations must be included in the page count.

Postmark deadline is June 1, 2012, and manuscripts must be sent with $7.50 entry fee to:
Amy Jo Zook
3520 State Route 56
Mechanicsburg, OH 43044

Make check payable to Ohio Poetry Day, with "chapbook" in the memo line. All entrants will receive a copy of the winning book. Judge for the contest will be announced at Ohio Poetry Day.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Casting a Line for Susan Glassmeyer's 'Invisible Fish'

by Chuck Salmons If you haven’t heard by now, OPA member and Cincinnati poet Susan Glassmeyer is the winner the Ohio Poetry Day Association’s 2018 Poet of the Year award, for her first full-length collection, Invisible Fish  (Dos Madres Press, 2018). On the heels of her winning, I corresponded with her to find out more about the collection and her writing process.  CS: First of all, congratulations on the award! Having read Invisible Fish, I know this is an honor that is well-deserved. How does it feel to have your name among past winners such as Mary Oliver, David Baker, and David Citino? SG: I was truly surprised to win this award, Chuck. I did some research after the fact and learned about the history of the award. What an honor to be part of this venerable Ohio poet lineage! I already own a few of the books on the list, not realizing the authors had previously won the award. And although I have many of Mary Oliver’s books, Twelve Moons (winner in 1980) was not among

2023 Ohio Poetry Day Contests Now Open

Our friends at the Ohio Poetry Day Association have announced their annual contests!  May 15, 2023, is the deadline (postmark)  for nearly two dozen contest categories. Categories include humor, formal poems, parody and more. As always, a “Welcome Aboard” category for first-time submitters and an art category to design the cover art for the 2023  Best of Ohio Poetry Day  anthology are also open to submissions.  Below is a copy of the submission form, which provides full contest information.  Ohio Poetry Day 2023 will take place in October. Stay up to date on OPD information, including the event date, location, and agenda, by getting your name and address on the OPD mailing list. To do so, contact: Amy Jo Zook 3520 State Route 56 Mechanicsburg, OH 43044 Checks for all contest fees and purchases should be made payable to: Ohio Poetry Day . For questions, call (937) 834-2666. Click and download the images below to view them at full size.

Ohio Poetry Day Association names 2021 Poet of the Year and Contest Winners

The Ohio Poetry Day Association (OPDA) has selected Quartez Harris as its Ohio Poet of the Year for 2021. Harris was selected for his book of poems, We Made It to School Alive (Twelve Arts Press, 2020). Residing in Cleveland, Ohio, Harris is a second-grade teacher at Michael R. White Elementary School. We Made It to School Alive, his second collection of poetry, was inspired by his work as a teacher and gives voice to the experiences of the children he works with every day who deal with issues of gun violence, poverty, educational challenges, and more. Harris’ first book, N othing, But Skin,  was published in 2014 by Writing Knights Press. He is the first recipient of the Barbara Smith Writer-In-Resident at Twelve Literary Arts and a 2020 Baldwin House Fellow. He has been featured in the Plain Dealer, IdeaStream, and City Club of Cleveland, and recently signed on to be represented by Mckinnon Literary Agency. His works in progress are a young-adult novel and picture book biography.