Be The Next Bucks County Poet Laureate: Here's How To Enter

Bucks County Community College has launched it search for the 43rd annual Bucks County Poet Laureate. The local poet laureate program is the longest-running of its kind in Pennsylvania.

To enter, you must be a Bucks County resident over age 18 who has never previously served as poet laureate. Each entrant must submit 10 original poems of any style or length along with an entry form to the college’s Language and Literature Department.

Entries must be postmarked by Wednesday, September 4 or hand-delivered to the office by Friday, September 6 at 4 p.m.

Poetry of any style, form, or length is allowed. All work must be original, published or unpublished, typewritten or word-processed on one side in black ink.

There is no fee to enter.

The winner receives a $500 honorarium, a proclamation from the Bucks County Commissioners, and a reading and reception at Bucks County Community College with 2018 Poet Laureate Carly Volpe and contest runners-up.

Two judges will blindly select the winner. The preliminary judge will narrow the entries down to a few dozen for the final judge, who will choose the winner and three runners-up from the pool of finalists.

The 2019 final judge will be Melissa Stein, author of the poetry collections "Terrible Blooms" and "Rough Honey."

The Preliminary judge will be Chad Frame, a former Montgomery County Poet Laureate whose work was featured in The Poet and the Poem from the Library of Congress Series.

All entries must be accompanied by an entry form, which can be obtained at http://bit.ly/buckscountylaureate, at libraries and bookstores throughout the county, or by contacting the college’s Language and Literature Department at 215-968-8150.

Mail entries to: Poet Laureate Contest, Language and Literature Dept., Bucks County Community College, 275 Swamp Rd., Newtown, Pa., 18940.

For more information, contact Dr. Ethel Rackin at Ethel.Rackin@bucks.edu.