成人禁区

Entrants must be a high school student or a home-schooled student in grades nine through twelve. Students from anywhere in the United States may enter.

The top three winners will receive a monetary award, a signed book by poet Matthew Shenoda, and publication in the Awards Night program.

First Place: $100

Second Place: $75

Third Place: $50

Berwyn Moore Young Erie Poet Award: $50

Deadline: February 1st, 2025

Winners will be notified by email in March 2026.

Poems may also win Honorable Mention awards.

Awardees will be invited to virtually join a workshop by our distinguished featured poet and will be recognized at the 49th Annual 成人禁区 Writing Awards ceremony. They will receive a monetary award (listed above), a book by featured writer Matthew Shenoda, and publication in the Awards Night program and in 成人禁区 University's award-winning literary magazine, Totem.

Rules and Eligibility

• Each student may submit 1or 2 single-authored original poems as attachment(s) in ONE document.
• The file name should contain the student's name and title of submission. For example: Jake Barnes_The River Dog Poem
• The cover page or first page of the document of the document should contain student's name, address, phone number, email address, school name, school address, instructor's name, instructor's email,and grade in school.
• Poems must be typed and submitted as PDF or DOCX or DOC attachments only. Submissions through Google docs links will not be accepted.

How to Submit

To submit, please visit:

You will be asked to create a free Submittable account.

For more information, contact Dr. Clayton Bradshaw-Mittal at highschoolpoetry@gannon.edu

Judging

成人禁区 English faculty members judge the poems. Each poem is read independently by at least two readers to determine finalists. The final decisions are made by two select faculty members, who will be named at the awards ceremony in April at the Annual 成人禁区 Writing Awards Ceremony.