Participants must reside in New Jersey and must currently be in grades 9-12.

Each student may submit a maximum of one poem. Each participating teacher may submit up to ten poems.

Your name should not appear on the poem itself. Remove all identifying information from your submission (including writer’s name, school, teacher). The submission page will ask for this information. Because this is a universal form, some of the choices seem obvious. You are entering a poetry contest; therefore, you are submitting poetry. When you are asked why the piece is important to you, identify your teacher, teacher's email, school, school address, home address, and phone number in this answer.Because this field contains personal information about you, leave the "share" button UNCHECKED.

Poems must be original and must properly attribute any lines or sources (including other writers) that provided inspiration. If, for example, you modeled your poem after another writer’s poem, include mention of that somewhere on the page. If you borrow anyone else’s words, you need to clarify somehow that fact.

Please read and follow NCTE guidelines regarding appropriate language. You will find these at the beginning of the submission process.

No simultaneous submissions. In other words, if you submit a poem to our contest, do not also submit it to another contest, nor to another place for publication.

Writers may be disqualified for failing to meet these expectations.

Submission deadline: December 15, 2009.

We encourage all writers to revise poems extensively before submission. Keep the following judging criteria in mind as you draft and revise:

• language is fresh; avoids cliché
• poem conveys attention to both sound and meaning
• poet uses specific details/images (shows vs. tells)
• poem expresses voice, tone
• poem contains surprise and originality
• poem encourages contemplation; re-reading
• poet uses title to add meaning
• attention to the poetic line – including effective use of line breaks/enjambment to convey sound/pacing/meaning
• poet uses poetic form in the service of meaning; form does not overpower voice/meaning
• writer makes effective use of figurative language
• poem reflects effort, thought, skill

For more information about this contest, including judging criteria, consult our blog, http://writingteacher.edublogs.org/.

Before submitting your writing to our contest, review these criteria and revise extensively. In addition to the blog, you’ll also find contest information on our Web site, www.njcte.org.