Contest: Oregon State Poetry Association (Deadline Feb. 29)

The Oregon State Poetry Association (OSPA) has announced its 2008 Spring Poetry Contest offering $775 in prizes for winners in seven categories and publication in the group’s annual anthology, Verseweavers.

Two new categories have been added to the spring contest, Poetry of Witness and Prose Poem. Other categories are Poet’s Choice, entries for which can be poems in any form on any subject, Free Verse. Traditional Verse and Members Only. There is also a New Poets contest for poets who have never won a cash prize for their poetry in any contest.

The Poetry of Witness contest is sponsored in honor of Hannah Wilson by the Eugene-Springfield unit of the association. Wilson, who lived near Eugene, OR, taught high school English and humanities for twenty years and was known for speaking out against injustice. She led protests, marched, phoned and picketed demanding attention to what she thought was right. Her poetry was imbued with her lifelong commitment to witnessing and speaking out.

Winners will be announced and prize checks and certificates will be awarded at OSPA’s Spring Conference, April 25-26, 2008, in Salem, OR. Honorable mentions will be awarded in all categories.

Judges are chosen from among established Oregon poets, poetry publishers and poetry teachers at Oregon colleges and universities.

Entries must be postmarked on or before February 29, 2008 to be eligible for the contest. Members pay $1 and nonmembers $4 for each poem entered. The Members Only category is free to OSPA members.

Poets interested in entering poems in one or more of the categories can get a list of rules by writing to M. E. Hope, Contest Chair, 5183 Round Lake Road, Klamath Falls, OR 97601, or on the association’s Web site, www.oregonpoets.org.