Contests & Submissions

VerseVillage & PoemTowns 2026

Posted by

everyone is a poet

While the deadline has passed to submit to PoemCity in Montpelier, other towns and villages are still open to send in your poems in celebration of National Poetry Month 2026.

PoemVillage Bristol – February 28, 2026Discover Bristol
PoemTown Randolph – February 28, 2026PoemTown.org
PoemTown St. Johnsbury – February 28, 2026Catamount Arts PoemTown
PoemTown Bradford – March 13, 2026Bradford Public Library
VerseVillage Hardwick – February 28, 2026Hardwick VerseVillage
PoetryDowntown Rutland – March 14, 2026Poetry Downtown Rutland
PoemsAroundTown Brattleboro – February 28, 2026Brattleboro PoemsAroundTown
PoemTowns & PoemVillages
Vermont Writers' Prize header

Vermont Writers’ Prize 2026

Posted by

Don’t miss the opportunity to submit your work to the Vermont Writers’ Prize 2026!

VermontWritersPrize2026

Green Mountain Power & Vermont Magazine…

ACCEPTING ENTRIES FOR 2026

We look forward to reading your essay, short story, play or poem. It must be on one central topic – Vermont! Whether it is about its people, its places, its history or its values — the choice is yours!

There will be a winner for prose and a winner for poetry, and each will receive a cash prize of $1,250. The winning pieces will be published in Vermont Magazine.

https://vermontwritersprize.submittable.com/submit

2025 Summer contest results header

2025 Summer Contests & Troubadour Awards Results

Posted by

The 2025 Summer Contests & Troubadour Awards results are now in. There were a total of 259 submissions of wonderful poetry.  We had nine outstanding judges (2 for the Davis & Peach Troubadour Awards & 7 Summer Contest judges) who all expressed pleasure and honor at reading these wonderful poems. They mentioned the  difficulty in choosing a winner and honorary mention because of the excellent writing. There were a few snafus with the length of poems, duplications and formatting but nothing was insurmountable.  PSOV thanks all the poets for their beautiful words and participation that made the summer contests a great success.  We are grateful for the professional judges who gave of their time for the PSOV Summer Contests & Troubadour Awards.  It is our pleasure to announce the winners listed below.

Troubadour Awards:*

Corrine Eastman Davis Memorial Award~Judge: Chard DeNiord

Winner:  Cotton  by Cindy Ellen Hill

Honorable Mention:  Joseph and Roy  by daithi’

************************************

Arthur Wallace Peach Memorial Award~Judge: Samn Stockwell

Winner:   Mortal Coil by CD Williams

Honorable Mention:  After the Deluge by Mathew Dickerson

Summer Contests: 

J. Barry Richardson Memorial Award~Judge:  Sean Prentiss

Winner:  The Process by J.T. Butler

Honorary Mention: Heron’s Hymn by Ivy Schweitzer

*******************************

Laura J. Spooner Memorial Award~Judge:  Angela Patten

Winner:   Love Song by Judith Janoo

Honorary Mention:  A Crow That Can’t Be Rescued by Elizabeth R. McCarthy

********************************

Goldstein Memorial Award~Judge:  April Ossmann

Winner:   Mother’s Last Words by Kristine Korman

Honorary Mention:  The Night Splinter’s by Samantha Kolber

*********************************

Chris White Memorial Award~Judge: Dianalee Velie

Winner:   Wrath of Totality by Ivy Schweitzer

Honorable Mention:   Point Nemo by The Character We Are

*********************************

Marion Gleason Memorial Award~Judge:  James Morehead

Winner:   Before – During – After by Kathryn Bonnez

Honorable Mention:  Heron Dancer by Karen Ruth Richardson

*******************************

Carol and Arnold Abelson Award~Judge:  Nancy Richardson

Winner:  Taps for Private Ryans by Damon Piletz

Honorable Mention:  In Prague by Ann Cooper

*******************************

Mary Margarette Audette Award~Judge:  Geof Hewitt

Winner:  Saying Goodbye by Nancy Gordon

Honorable Mention:  Spring Fling by Judith Janoo

*******************************

 *Troubadour Awards are not Summer Contests, they are poems selected from the current Mountain Troubadour. They will not be reprinted in the Troubadour but will receive special mention in the next edition of TMT and will be published on the PSOV Website.

the Poetry Society of Vermont Executive Board

Kristine Korman, PSOV Contest Co-chair

Julianna Anderson, PSOV Contest Co-chair

2025 Summer Contests & Awards

Posted by

We are excited to share the list of judges chosen for the PSOV 2025 Summer Contests and Troubadour Awards. Submissions to the seven Summer Contests are open until July 31st, free submissions for PSOV Members. Go to Summer Contests Guidelines & Instructions for more information.

2025 Summer Contests Judges:

James Morehead photoJames Morehead  Marion Gleason Memorial Award
Dianalee photoDianalee Velie Chris White Memorial Award
Sean Prentiss WriterSean Prentiss J. Richard Barry Memorial Award
Geoff Hewitt Vermont PoetGeof Hewitt Mary Margaret Audette Memorial Award
Nancy Richardson Poet photoNancy Richardson     Carol and Arnold Abelson Award
April Ossman Poet photoApril OssmannGoldstein Memorial Award
Angela Patten Poet head shotAngela PattenLaura J. Spooner Memorial Award

The Mountain Troubadour Awards:

The following judges will read and select the Davis & Peach Awards. The winning poems and honorable mentions will be chosen from the Selected Works in the 2025 Mountain Troubadour.

Chard deNiord imageChard DeNiordCorinne Eastman Davis Memorial Award
Samn Stockwell Poet photoSamn Stockwell Arthur Wallace Peach Memorial Award
2025SummerContests

PSOV 2025 Summer Contests

Posted by

The Poetry Society of Vermont is pleased to announce that the 2025 Summer Contests submissions will open on June 16th and close at midnight on July 31, 2025. The Summer Contests winners and honorable mentions will be selected by judges who are experienced poets and not affiliated with the Poetry Society of Vermont. We will announce who will be this year’s judges on the PSOV website and Monday morning PSOV Poetry newsPost in the coming weeks. 

PSOV Summer Contests winners and second place poems (Honorable Mentions) will be published in The Mountain Troubadour 2026. The Summer Contests are open to all PSOV Members, who may submit one poem to each of the seven contests (please follow the contest guidelines and specific contest theme/line length requirements,) except* if they won last year’s contest they cannot submit a poem this year to that specific contest (*new in 2025.) The Troubadour Awards will also be judged at this time and announced in the 2026 Mountain Troubadour.  We look forward to your submissions and enriching PSOV’s literary journal, The Mountain Troubadour. (If you are not a member, join today and enjoy the many benefits of being a member of the Poetry Society of Vermont.)

Thank you,

PSOV Contest Co-Chairs

Kristine Korman and Juliana Anderson

Please read and follow the submission guidelines: