The Love Poem Contest
This is a free contest. No entry fee is required.
Write a love poem or poems. As long as your poem is in some way about love – whether it’s romantic, or for friends, family, places or things – you can interpret this however you like. Remember to use specific details and images in your poem. And have fun!
Prizes
Selected poets will be published on SugarStorm.com and our social networks.
How to enter
This challenge is for writers of all ages based anywhere in the world. The deadline is 23:59 GMT, Monday 14 February 2023. You can send a poem written down, or a recording as a video or as an audio file. If you are sending a written version of your poem, please type it into the body of your email. If you are sending a video or audio file, please attach it to the email (making sure it’s no bigger than 4MB or it won’t come through) or send us a link to where we can see/hear it.
Please be aware that Sugar Storm is for all ages, and as such, we won’t publish erotica or graphic descriptions of sex.
Send your poem(s) to Love@thesugarstorm.com with your name, date of birth/age, gender, the county (or, if you’re not from Denver, CO, the country) you live in, and where you found out about this challenge (e.g. Twitter, email etc.). In the email subject line please write ‘Love poetry challenge’.
By entering, you give permission for Sugar Storm to reproduce your poem in print and online in perpetuity if you are among the winning poets of this challenge, though copyright remains
All winners will receive a letter and their prize via regular mail. The first-place winner will be contacted by phone or emailed and asked to call our store to verify their identity before their prize is mailed. As soon as the complete list of winners is drawn up, it will be posted on the contest page. The poetry contest is held once per year. Contest dates are January 1 – February 14.
POETRY CONTEST RULES
- Poetry can be written in any poetic style and on any subject.
- A poem in its entirety must be an original work by the person entering the contest.
- Plagiarism is a serious offense with serious consequences.
- Only one poem per person, per household, is allowed.
- Poet of all ages is accepted.
- Any entry containing cliché, overused phrases will not be accepted. Examples:
- Roses are red
- I love you
- All work and no play
- Time after time
- All poems must be written in English.
- Contest entries must be at least 3 but cannot exceed 26 lines (including stanza breaks) and cannot exceed 55 characters per line (including spaces between words). Any submission that exceeds these limits will be automatically disqualified. The poem title does not count as a line.
- Do not double-space.
- Poem must adhere to basic rules of capitalization:
- Do not type poem in all capital letters.
- Do not capitalize the first letter of every word.
- Only capitalize words that are proper (i.e. names and places).
- The first word of each line may be capitalized if it is done consistently throughout.
- Do not use “texting” lingo. Properly spell out all words and numbers.
- Poems containing language that is vulgar, offensive, or wholly inappropriate will not be accepted.
- To ensure proper lineation, please use the “Enter” key to start a new line, indicating all intentional line breaks.
- Do not include your name or any other information at the end of your poem.
PRIZES
The contest award one first-place prize of $100 and a a $100 gift card to Sugar Storm ($100.00 value); twenty-second place prizes of $100.00 each and a second-place $50 gift card; two hundred third place winners of a $25 Sugar Storm gift certificate
ELIGIBILITY
The contest is open to anyone of any age who writes poetry.
JUDGING PROCESS
Contest entries are judged based on poetic technique, effectiveness, style, and creativity.
