The deadline for Highline’s annual Poetry Contest is Feb. 12 at 4 p.m.

The contest is a lead-in to the college’s celebration of National Poetry Month in April.

All Highline students are eligible to enter the contest.  Maximum length of a poem is 20 lines, plus the title. Each entrant is allowed to submit up to three poems.

E-mail submissions to dmoore@highline.edu and your subject line must read “Poetry Contest 2021.” Include your email address and phone number in the email as well.

The first-place winner will be awarded $200, the second will receive $150, and the third will receive $100. The seven honorable mentions will each receive $75.

During the month of April, the Nation Poetry Committee will have readings and workshops led by several poets.

Highline writing and film professor Susan Rich, and longtime former English professor Susan Landgraf, will lead a workshop at 3 p.m. on Feb. 23. 

Landgraf is the poet laureate of Auburn and has published books of and on poetry.

To attend the workshop, which is free, go to https://highline.zoom.us/j/81308212731

The college will also get a virtual visit from Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Dr. Jericho Brown.

Dr. Brown has been widely published and is the author of three books. He is also associate professor of English and director of the Creative Writing program at Emory University in Atlanta.

He will Zoom into Highline on April 22 (details to follow).

Poetry Month has been observed at Highline since 2013.

“I believe the reason for the National Poetry Month’s wild success is that the world needs poetry,” said Susan Rich, also a published author.

“The ideas of optimism, hope, and inclusivity are cornerstones of poetry,” she said. “It is no coincidence that at key crossroads in a person’s life: graduation, marriage, or a new presidency, poets are asked to preside over the moment.”