Ohio Poetry Association Blog

Our friends at the Ohio Poetry Day Association have announced their annual contests!  May 15, 2026, is the deadline (postmark)  for 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 2026  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 2026 will take place in October in Toledo, Ohio. Stay up to date on event 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 image below to view it at full size.

OPA is pleased to announce the following winners in its 2025 Odes of October contest. First prize is awarded for "Lemons in the Seventeenth Century," by Marci Rich. First prize includes an award of $65 and inclusion in the 2026 issue of Common Threads, as well being published below. Second prize goes to John Hunt for his poem, "Only the Blues." This prize includes an award of $25, will be published in the 2026 issue of Common Threads, and appears below. Third prize goes to Jonathan Smith for "40 Leaves.". This prize includes an award of $10, will be published in the 2026 issue of Common Threads, and appears below. This year, the judge also chose four poems for Honorable Mention: Shirley Valencia's poem, "Oblivion" Rosalie Hendon's poem, "Penelope to Odysseus" Jo Anne Moser Gibbon's poem, "I Contain Multitudes" Jonathan Smith's poem, "Where Jane Goodall Stood" Sincerest than...

Troy Hayner Cultural Center, 301 W Main Street, Troy, OH 45373 Friday Evening, October 24 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Evening Workshops & Overnight Contests Saturday Morning, October 25 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Evan Lodge Memorial Poetry Workshop One dollar Admission Saturday Noon, October 25 Lunch Box lunch will be provided – Contact Amy Zook to prepay: Amy Jo Zook 3520 State Rte. 56 Mechanicsburg, OH 43044 Saturday Afternoon, October 25 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Readings by the Ohio Co-Poets of the Year & Contest Winners

Call For Poems: PUDDING MAGAZINE IS LOOKING FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR A SPECIAL EDITION OF ECOPOETRY. Editorial Focus Website: puddingmagazine.com Pudding Magazine is a print journal that focuses on publishing eclectic, sophisticated poetry that appeals to our conscience through bold and exacting language conjuring powerful imagery.  In this special issue, we focus specifically on work that has vision, passion, and compels the reader to act rather than to indulge or resign – a call to arms – a joining forces – in defense of our natural world: experiment, provoke, innovate, compel and lament! This special poetry edition 2012, focuses on a fusion of popular culture and social justice with environmental topics such as fracking, mercury contamination, coal burning, pesticides, threats to clean water, clean air, soil pollution, excess consume, overfishing, whaling, global warming, aerial hunting, trapping, shark finning, sealing, poaching, factory farming, plastic bags; GMOs, loss of ...

The Poetry Forum 19 th Annual William Redding Memorial Poetry Contest FIRST PLACE $100 and a featured reading at The Poetry Forum in May 2012 SECOND PLACE 1-year membership in Columbus Salon, monthly poetry workshop or $ 50 Gift Certificate from Half-Price Books              THIRD PLACE $ 25 Gift Certificate from Half-Price Books Submission Guidelines: 1.      Entrants must be residents of Ohio. 2.      Submit 3 typewritten poems.  One poem per page. 3.      Maximum 40 lines per poem. 4.      Name, address, phone number & email on back only of each poem. 5.      Previous first place winners and previously published poems are ineligible. 6.      Poems will not be returned. No SASE required. Deadline:  March 14, 2012 Mail Entries to: The Poetry Forum P.O. Box 784 Worthington, OH 43085 The Poetry ...