The Midwest Writing Center Announces its 37th Annual Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest
2010 National Judge: Louise Mathias, author of Lark Apprentice and Above All Else, the Trembling Resembles
a Forest
2010 Regional Judge: Stephen Frech, author of Toward Evening and the Day Far Spent, If Not for These Wrinkles
of Darkness
and The Dark Villages of Childhood.
Poems should be typed with no identifying information on the page. Include a separate cover sheet with author’s name, address,
email address, and poem titles. Poems may be more than one page, but only one poem per page. Include a SASE for results
if you do not wish to receive notification via email. No previously published poems.
Friends, relatives and former or current students of judges may not enter. Past or current employees and board members
of Midwest Writing Center are also ineligible.
Contact/Submission Information
Email submissions are preferred and should be sent to: contest@midwestwritingcenter.org
Submissions should include all poems in one (.doc or .rtf) document and one separate document for the cover page.
Submissions sent through the USPS should be sent to the address in this email.
Deadline
Submissions must be postmarked January 1, 2010 through April 9, 2010.
Prizes
Prizes will be given in two categories:
National and Regional (for poets residing in the Northern Mississippi Valley Region states of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota,
Missouri, and Wisconsin).
Please note on your cover letter the category for which you would like to be considered.
First, second, and third place prizes for each category are as follows: $250, $175 and $100; the regional contest winner
will also receive an award in honor of Max J. Molleston, long-time Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest coordinator. The top25 finalists will each receive a free copy of our annual anthology Channel Cat, published by the Midwest Writing Center Press.
Entry Fee Information
Entry fee is $9 for up to three poems; $2 for each additional poem.
Send an extra $4.00 for a copy of Channel Cat, which will include poems from the winners and top 25 finalists .
Methods of Payment
You may pay via PayPal OR send a check to:
Midwest Writing Center
Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest
225 E. 2nd St., Suite 303
Davenport, IA 52801
The Midwest Writing Center is a member of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) and follows its
contest ethics guidelines.
This contest is sponsored in part by Ashford University.