Annual Young Poets Competition open to all Gloucester Students now through April 30th

Over the past 20 years, the Sawyer Free Library contest, Poetry without Paper, has celebrated thousands of local students’ outstanding writing while encouraging the community’s youth to use poetry as a means of creative expression. The annual contest is an opportunity for local school children of all ages to showcase their writing and creativity in a supportive environment and win top prizes. 

With the competition running throughout March and culminating on the last day of National Poetry Month, April 30, children and teens who live in Gloucester or attend Gloucester schools are encouraged to submit 1-3 original poems on any theme to the Library. Participants can choose to set their poems to video, images, and or music. Each poem may be no longer than 30 lines, be the student’s own work, and previously unpublished and submitted through the Library’s website. 

To mark the celebration of 20 years, Sawyer Free Library has made the Poetry without Paper prizes even more exciting. Winners will be chosen from each age group: high school, middle school, and elementary school. First-place winners in all categories receive $150 Cape Ann gift certificates, second-place winners receive $100 gift certificates, and third-place winners receive a $50 gift certificate with Honorable Mention awarded a poetry book. All winning poets receive a certificate, present their poems at a Spring awards ceremony and receive an invitation to appear on 1623 Studio’s production, The Writer’s Block with John Ronan. All winning work will also be published online by the Library.

The poems must be submitted through the Library website at SawyerFreeLibrary.org from March 1 – April 30. For questions, contact the Children’s Librarian at crosso@sawyerfreelibrary.org or SawyerFreeLibrary.org.