poetry contest may 2026

Welcome!

This is where you can submit your poetry for the sixth All Words Bright & Beautiful poetry contest!

There will be 3 winners and 3 honorable mentions; if you win 1st place, you get $100 in cash; if you win 2nd, you get $75 in cash; if you win 3rd, you get $50. Your winning or honorably mentioned piece will also be featured in a non-paywalled post to our 2.3K+ subscribers.

Your poem should be inspired by this word: mythopoeic, which means "of or relating to the art of myth-making."

I want you to write me a poem that tells a mythic story.

Your poem must have a mythic quality to it. The kind of quality that is evoked by this G. K. Chesterton quote from Orthodoxy: "Fairy tales say that apples were golden only to refresh the forgotten moment when we found that they were green. They make rivers run with wine only to make us remember, for one wild moment, that they run with water."

Your purpose in writing this poem is to spark wonder and tell a beautiful story. It can be about something cosmic as the stars or something small as a dandelion. It must be a myth—a fairy tale—and it must be beautiful.

Please note: it is not necessary or encouraged that you include the word “mythopoeic” in your poem, either in the stanzas or in your title. The important thing is to get the idea the word evokes across.

There are only 3 rules:

1. Thou shalt make the poem rhythm and rhyme. It is not enough that the poem merely rhymes. It must also have a recognizable rhythm when read out loud. Examples of poetry that both rhymes and rhythms well are "Noel" by J. R. R. Tolkien, "The Wreck of the Hesperus" by H. W. Longfellow, and "The Ballad of the White Horse" by G. K. Chesterton. 
2. Thou shalt make the poem imaginative and beautiful. The poem must use beautiful and imaginative language! For example, we want the same kind of language that describes the moon as a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, stars as silver sky-fish swimming in a sea of darkness, and grassy lawns as worlds of adventure to explore, if only you were the size of an acorn. 
3. Thou shalt make the poem's meaning easy to understand. The poem needs to not be difficult to understand for the average person. Make sure when you write it that it is something that most people would be able to appreciate. 

If you have a paid subscription to All Words Bright & Beautiful, you get to enter this contest and all poetry contests we hold after this date for free (as long as you have the subscription). You may also submit as many entries as you like without having to pay the entry fee at any time.

If you haven't gotten a paid subscription yet but want to, feel free to do it here!

Submissions close: on October 29th, 2026 AD or once we reach 36 submissions, whichever happens first.

We look forward to seeing what you send us! Godspeed! :)