Literacy Volunteers seek poetry contest entries by March 31

The annual Literacy Volunteers Poetry Contest, free for all ages, is open from Tuesday, Feb. 14, to Friday, March 31, to all residents of Franklin and Somerset counties and the towns of Livermore and Livermore Falls.

First-, second-, and third-place winners will be selected in each of five categories: Ages 8-12, 13-17, 18-25 and 26 and older, as well as students of Literacy Volunteers, according to a news release from Barbara Averill, executive director of the organization.

Winners will receive gift certificates: First place, $25 value at Devaney Doak & Garrett Booksellers; second place, $15 value at Twice Sold Tales bookstore; and third place, $10 value at Java Joe’s.

All winners are scheduled to be announced Tuesday, April 11. All winning poems will be published.

To enter, submit one poem by midnight March 31. Only one entry per person will be accepted. All poems must be original and previously unpublished.

The poem must be typed on a page with no identifying information. All entries must include a title page, separate from the poem. The title page must list the poet’s name, category entered, phone number and address, and the title of the poem.

The title page can be typed into the body of the email, separate from the poem. Entries can also be sent by mail to Literacy Volunteers at 129 Seamon Road, Farmington, ME 04938. Poems will not be returned.

Only submissions which follow the criteria and are submitted by March 31 will be considered. Simultaneous submissions are accepted; note that on the title page and notify Literacy Volunteers immediately of acceptance elsewhere.

Literacy Volunteers of Franklin and Somerset Counties will catalog all poems and send them, with any identifying information removed, to an out-of-county judge, Laine Kuehn of Belfast, who will select the winners in each category.

Kuehn graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington in 2014, majoring in creative writing and serving as intern at the Beloit Poetry Journal.

Since then, Kuehn coordinated programs with the Maine Humanities Council, volunteered for five years on the steering committee of the Belfast Poetry Festival, and co-edited and produced several issues of a literary magazine.

Emailed entries must be submitted in PDF format, attached to an email, and sent to literacyvolunteersfs@gmail.com. Use the subject line Poetry.

For more information, visit westernmaineliteracy.org or call 207-500-3131.