Eighth Annual Fighting Words Poetry Contest

Funding Information

• 1st place: $300, publication on the Pulitzer Center website
• 2nd place: $200, publication on the Pulitzer Center website
• 3rd place: $100, publication on the Pulitzer Center website
• Finalists: $75, publication on the Pulitzer Center website

Eligibility Criteria

• Current K-12 students anywhere in the world may enter.
• Students may write in any language, and are welcome to submit multilingual poems.
• Judges will have reading fluency in English and Spanish.

Judging Criteria

• Poems will be judged by the following criteria:
  • Success of the poem on its own terms (craft, linguistic style, emotion, etc.)
  • Questions to ask yourself:
    • What do I want my reader to understand about this issue and the themes of my poem? Does my poem successfully communicate my message?
    • What response(s) do I want to evoke in my reader? Have I chosen the best words to evoke this response?
    • Have I used poetic devices (e.g. repetition, imagery, metaphor), or chosen not to use them, to achieve a specific effect?
  • Successful inclusion of lines quoted from a Pulitzer Center story, and responsiveness to the theme(s) of the story
  • Questions to ask yourself:
    • Have I chosen lines that add something important to the poem?
    • Are the lines integrated into the poem smoothly, so their presence feels natural?
    • Have I amplified the underreported story in my poem?
  • Thoughtful choice of perspective and respectful treatment of subject matter
  • Questions to ask yourself:
    • What is my relationship to the story I have chosen? How can I make a personal connection?
    • Why am I writing from the perspective I have chosen? What other perspectives could I choose, and how would those choices change the poem?
    • If the subjects of the story I have chosen read my poem, how might they feel?

Application Requirements

• The form will ask for some basic information, and you will upload your poem to the form as an attachment. You may also upload an audio or video file of yourself performing your poem; this file is optional, but the text file is required.
• Please note: All students must list a teacher contact for their entries. This person will be included in communications with contest-winning poets. Students should choose a school teacher or out-of-school time educator who will regularly check their email. If students are not enrolled in a formal education environment, they may list a guardian in place of a teacher.

For more information, visit Pulitzer Center.