The Adroit Prizes are awarded annually to two students of secondary or undergraduate status. The best of the best will be recognized by the Adroit Prizes. All submitted poems and prose pieces will be considered for publication in the Adroit Journal.
The Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Awards is an annual poetry contest hosted by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. It encourages poets to explore and articulate positive visions of peace and the human spirit. The contest is open to poets worldwide and is held in three age categories: Adult, Youth (13–18), and Youth (12 and under).
The Bennington Young Writers Awards is an annual writing competition hosted by Bennington College to recognize and promote excellence in writing among high school students in grades 9–12, both in the U.S. and internationally. Established to celebrate the college’s literary legacy, which includes alumni like Donna Tartt and Bret Easton Ellis, the contest is free to enter and accepts submissions from September to November, with winners announced in spring (typically April).
The Claudia Ann Seaman Awards for Young Writers were created by the Seaman family in memory of their daughter and sister, a young poet. The CAS Award acknowledges excellence in teen writing in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Nominees are selected each year by our editorial staff from the works that have been submitted to Polyphony Lit and accepted for publication. A distinguished panel of professional authors choose one winner each in poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction, to receive a $200 cash award. Two honorable mentions are also selected in each genre category. Awards are selected each summer. Submissions that were published in Polyphony Lit's Fall Issue, Winter Issue, or Spring Issue during the preceding school year (September-May) are eligible for consideration.
The Foyle Young Poets Award is one of the most prestigious and largest international poetry competitions for young people aged 11 to 17. Run by The Poetry Society in partnership with the Foyle Foundation, the free-to-enter contest recognizes 100 outstanding poets each year, providing significant opportunities to develop their craft. Submissions are read anonymously by a panel of established, prize-winning poets. The judges read thousands of entries to select the 100 winners. The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award is widely recognized for launching the careers of many notable poets. Alumni have gone on to publish with major houses and win prestigious awards
The Just Poetry student contest is a quarterly, national poetry competition for U.S. high school students, sponsored by the Live Poets Society. Submissions are free and include cash scholarships and publication for winning entries.
The Leonard L. Milberg ’53 High School Poetry Prize recognizes outstanding work by student writers in the 11th grade in the U.S. or abroad. Contest judges are poets on the Princeton University creative writing faculty.
Founded in 2018, Lucky Jefferson is an award-winning arts publisher driving change through collaborative literary and arts experiences. LJ publishes writers and artists who never thought they could, whose perspectives have been excluded.
The Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest is an annual competition for young women in their sophomore or junior year of high school. Sponsored by Hollins University, it was established in 1962 to honor Nancy Thorp, a promising young poet who was a member of the Hollins class of 1960.
The Narrative High School Writing Contest is an annual competition for students in grades 9–12 worldwide, sponsored by Narrative Magazine. The contest features an annually changing prompt and is designed to find and showcase the authentic voices of young writers.