Contest Sponsors
Ain’t Got No Press • Angele Ellis • Angélique Jamail, Author • Annette Gagliardi • Barbara Simmons • Begin With a Story • Betsy Mars • Bill Cushing • Bruce W. Niedt • Charles A. Perrone • Cholla Needles • Clint Hirschfield • Christian Garduno • Daniel S. Irwin • David C. Kopaska-Merkel • David Flynn • Diane Jackman • E. Amato • Eastern Shore Writers Association • Emily Vieweg • Fathom Publishing • Harris Gardner • Ibbetson Street • Isabella Mori • J R Turek • Joan Leotta • John Dorroh • Karlo Sevilla • Kathabela Wilson • Kerfe Roig • Lawrence Berger • Layla Lenhardt • LB Sedlacek • Lines & Faces • Lisa Rhodes-Ryabchich • M. A. Dubbs • Magdalena Ball • Margaret R. Sáraco • Marianne Szlyk • Martina Robles Gallegos • Mary Anne Abdo • Melissa R. Mendelson • Nancy Lubarsky • Nancy Shiffrin • Pamela Miller • Pat Valdata • Patrice M. Wilson • Patty Bennett • Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange • Poetry.LA • Richard Eric Johnson • Rolland Vasin • Ron Kolm • Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association • Sean J Mahoney • Simple Simons Press • Space Cowboy Books • Sparks of Calliope • Sybaritic Press • The Janavi Held Endowed Poetry & Art Grant • Unlikely Stories • Voices Israel Group of Poets in English • Waide Riddle • Winning Writers • Zvi A. Sesling
Winners
First Place: Oak Morse (Houston, Texas) has an MFA from Warren Wilson. He won the 2024 A Public Space Writing Fellowship and Julia Peterkin Literary Award for Poetry in South 85 in 2023. Oak has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and has won fellowships from Brooklyn Poets, Twelve Literary Arts, Cave Canem’s Starshine, and Clay, as well as a Stars in the Classroom honor from the Houston Texans. His work appears in Public Space, Black Warrior Review, Obsidian, Up The Staircase Quarterly, Southern Indiana Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, Los Angeles Review, Hampden-Sydney Review, and Hobart, among other places. He is a candidate for the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Second Place: Christian Ward (London, England) is a UK-based writer currently recuperating from cancer treatment for Stage 4B Large T-cell Lymphoma. Recent work has appeared in Rappahannock Review, South Florida Poetry Journal, Double Speak, Wild Greens, Mad Swirl, Dipity Literary Magazine, Impspired, and Streetcake Magazine. He won 1st prize in the 2023 Cathalbui Poetry Competition.
Third Place: Noel Poston (Cookeville, Tennessee) is an inquisitive spiritual seeker enchanted by words and the quirkiness and splendor of EVERYTHING. She makes her home with her spiritually indifferent yet incredibly tolerant and indulgent husband in the hills of Middle Tennessee. Noel delights in striding and humbly stumbling through the mystery and wonder of IT ALL.
Entry Guidelines
The 2024 Poetry Super Highway Contest is now closed for entries. The deadline to enter was the evening of Saturday, September 28th at 12:00am (pacific).
We’ll announce the winners first on Sunday, October 13 at 2pm (pacific) in a special edition of Poetry Super Highway Live streamed to our Facebook page, and then afterward in our emailed newsletter (sign up in the box on the top of the right column of this page) and on our website.
- The Poetry Super Highway Poetry Contest is open to all human beings on planet Earth. (except for the three judges)
- Enter as many poems as you’d like.
- Poems may be of any style, length, or subject matter.
- Previously published poems are accepted. However, because the contest is judged blindly (with names removed from the poems) if a judge recognizes a poem from somewhere, they have the option to mark it as ineligible.
- This contest is separate from our weekly Poet of the Week consideration and the same poems may not be submitted for both.
- There is a One Dollar Per Poem (US Funds Only) entry fee.
- Poems are sent to the three contest judges with your name removed. The judges score each poem from 0-5 using quarter point intervals. (0, .25, .5, .75, 1, 1.25, 1.5, etc…)
- Poems are sent to judges only after you fill out the Contest Entry Form and we have received your entry fee.
To enter gather your poems into a single document (either Word .doc, .docx or RTF).
- Do not include your name in the document.
- Please use a basic font such as Times New Roman, Helvetica or Arial.
Click here to go to the entry form.
Deadlines Etcetera
- The deadline to enter is Saturday, September 28th, 2024 at midnight (pacific)
- If you are paying by check, the deadline for postmarking your entry fee is Saturday, September 28, 2024.
- Regardless of when you postmark, your entry fees must be received by Wednesday, October 2. So if you are mailing your entry fee (after filling in the contest entry form), please account for the amount of time it will take for your it to travel between your home and Los Angeles.
- This is a not-for-profit contest. All of the collected entry fees will be divided between the top three scoring poems.
- Once your entry fee is received, your poems will be sent with your name removed to the three judges who will score them 0 – 5 (5 being best).
- If you have any questions or need any of the contest details clarified, please e-mail Rick@PoetrySuperHighway.com
Prizes
First Prize: 50% of the entry fees collected plus winning poem featured on the PSH website.
Second Prize: 30% of the entry fees collected plus winning poem featured on the PSH website.
Third Prize: 20% of the entry fees collected plus winning poem featured on the PSH website.
In addition, contest sponsors Rolland Vasin donated $500 which will be added to the prize pot divided by the three winning poets. Also, thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, we are able to supplement the cash prizes with an impressive array of prizes of interest to poets and writers. Our goal is to be able to send every single person who enters the contest something.
Additional Prizes:
15 e-book (PDF) copies of the Noir Anthology “The Night Goes On All Night”
bniedt.blogspot.com
1 copy of the book “The Bungalow of Colorful Aging” by Bruce W. Niedt
1 copy of the book “Mating Season” by Kate Gale with 1 copy of “The Dark Horse” Literary Magazine (Issue 39, The Neglected Poets Issue)
Daniel S. Irwin
1 copy of the book “Red Room Blues” by Daniel S. Irwin
David C. Kopaska-Merkel
3 copies of the book “Poetry en Plein Air” by Marianne Szlyk
1 copy of the book “Buy A Ticket” by Judith R. Robinson
2 copies of the book “Origin Story” by Jendi Reiter, signed by the author
Meet Your Judges
Heidi Kasa (Austin, Texas)
Heidi Kasa is the author of the fiction chapbook Split (Monday Night Press, 2022). Her flash fiction collection The Beginners won the 2023 Digging Press Chapbook Contest, and is forthcoming in 2025. Her work has been a finalist for a Black Lawrence Press award and shortlisted for a Fractured Lit award. Kasa’s writing has appeared in many anthologies and journals, and is often at the intersection of reality and imagination. Kasa works as an editor, makes small print runs of handmade artist books, and designs necklaces. She lives in Austin. See more at www.heidikasa.com.
Nicole Adabunu (Chicago, illinois)
Nicole Adabunu is an MFA Poetry graduate from The Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is a 2024 Cave Canem Fellow, and her work has been published by Writer’s Digest, The Academy of American Poets, The Drift, and elsewhere. She currently lives and writes in Chicago. Visit Nicole on the web here.
Victoria Melekian (Carlsbad, California)
Victoria Melekian writes poetry, stories, and once wrote a novella-in-flash that was a runner up for the Bath Flash Fiction Award. She won the Joy Bale Boone Poetry Prize, placed second in the Medmic Summer Poetry contest, and was the third-place winner in last year’s Poetry Super Highway contest. She’s been nominated for both Best of the Net Awards and the Pushcart Prize. She gardens, makes quilts, and hangs out with family. She and her husband live in Carlsbad, California. For more, visit victoriamelekian.com
Contest Calendar
- July 14: Contest begins
- July 22-28: Judges featured as Poets of the Week
- July 28, 2:00 pm (pacific): PSH Live Judges Event: Live broadcast (Via Zoom and Facebook Live) where Judges will have the chance to read poems and discuss the contest and you can call in live and ask them questions. More info coming soon on how to tune in.
- September 28: Final deadline for contest entries. (Entry fees must be received or postmarked by September 28 or they’ll be returned.)
- October 4: Judges deadline for returning scored poems.
- October 9: Second round scoring deadline (in the event of tied scores.)
- October 13, 2:00pm (pacific): PSH Live Event: “Winners Announced” in a special broadcast via Zoom. Watch it live and if any of the winners happen to be listening, they’ll be invited to call in and read their winning entries live on the air.
- October 14 – 20: Contest Winners featured as Poets of the Week.
