The California State Poetry Society offers monthly and annual poetry contests to encourage poetic creativity. Members of the CSPS are also eligible to participate in all poetry contests of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies.
The CSPS Monthly Contests
This contest is open to all poets, whether or not they are members of the CSPS. Reading fees are $1.50 per poem with a $3.00 minimum for members and $3.00 per poem with a $6.00 minimum for non-members. Entries must be submitted through this website, our blogsite, or postmarked during the month of the contest in which they are entered. All pages must have complete contact information (name, address, telephone number, and email address) on them.
Submit (upload) entries and pay reading fees on the Contests page of this website (click on the Contests tab directly) or mail them with a check to:
CSPS Monthly Contest – (Specify Month)
Post Office Box 4288
Sunland, California 91041
Submissions can also by be made by emailing the poems to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. andusing PayPal to pay the reading fees.
All contests are judged by Alice Pero, the CSPS Monthly Contest Chair and Judge. The 1st place winner each month receives half of the prize pool for pools less than $100. For pools of $100 or more, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners receive $50, $10 and $5, respectively. There are no exceptions to the prize disbursement rules. The monthly contest winners are announced on this website as they are awarded and all of the winners for the year are listed in the first CSPS Newsbriefs of the following year. The 1st-prize winners are also published in the CSPS Poetry Letter.
The current monthly contest topics are the following:
Month |
Topic(s) |
January |
Nature, Landscape |
February |
Love |
March |
Open, Free Subject |
April |
Mythology, Dreams, Other Universes |
May |
Personification, Characters, Portraits |
June |
The Supernatural |
July |
Childhood, Memoirs |
August |
Places, Poems of Location |
September |
Colors, Music, Dance |
October |
Humor, Satire |
November |
Family, Friendship, Relationships |
December |
Back Down to Earth (Time, Seasons) |
All poems must be the original work of the poet, in English and may have been published previously.There is no limit to the number of poems one can submit, but each poem must be less than 80 lines (two pages). The monthly contest topics are published for each year in December of the previous year. Please do not send SASEs, as we do not return poems and only winners are notified.
The CSPS Annual Contest
This contest is open to all poets, whether or not they are members of the CSPS. Entries must be submitted through the mail and postmarked from March 1st through June 30th; they must be in English and be the original, unpublished work of the poet. Reading fees for all entries are $3.00 per poem for members and $6.00 per poem for nonmembers. There is an 80-line (two-page) limit for each poem, as longer poems are generally too difficult to include in the California Quarterly (CQ). Poets winning 1st, 2nd and 3rd receive $100, $50 and $25, respectively. As many as ten Honorable Mentions may also be awarded. Winners are announced on this website and placing poets are published in the fourth issue of the CQ in the contest year. The Honorable Mention poems and other submissions are forwarded to the CQ editors for possible inclusion in the subsequent issue. The contest results will be posted on this website. Send (1) a cover letter with all poet information and a list of the submitted poems and (2) one copy of each poem with no poet identification on it.
Include either an email address or a SASE in it for contest results and send your package to:
CSPS Annual Contest Chair
Post Office Box 4288
Sunland, California 91041