Call for Poetry Submissions
2020 Nashville Poetry in Motion®
Our Neighborhood
Overview: As part of the 2020 Nashville Poetry in Motion®, ten youth writers will have their poetry featured on an MTA bus wrap, fare cards, and advertising spaces, as well as in a zine anthology. High school and middle school writers are welcome to submit with a final deadline of Friday, January 17. From this pool of submissions, ten finalists will be selected. Poems are limited to 25 words and 10 lines maximum.
Theme: Powerful writers and artists see the world and help others see the world through fresh eyes. They see potential and connections that others do not and reveal new possibility for us all. Metro Arts and Southern Word know these visionaries often emerge from the next generation.
For this year’s Poetry in Motion® initiative, we are seeking poems that offer a new take on what Nashville could be. In 25 words or less, can you create a vision that helps show us a new way? Within our existing Nashville landscape, can you see something that others have not seen yet? Can you create a connection or witness an opportunity that has gone unnoticed? Can you elevate something in Nashville that has gone under-recognized?
Writing Prompt: Here are some questions and thoughts to prompt writing. These prompts are intended as a starting point and should not set limits or boundaries on the ideas that emerge from them.
· Pretend you have a magnifying glass. Observe a small piece of Nashville that has gone unnoticed through this magnifying glass.
· Choose two seemingly unassociated objects in Nashville. Use your poem to demonstrate the connection between these objects.
· Choose a location in Nashville that provides a distinct point of view. Describe how Nashville looks from that point of view.
· Celebrate something wonderful in Nashville. Describe how Nashville would change if we expanded that wonderful thing as much as possible.
Eligibility: Poetry in Motion® is open to any middle and high school age youth who live in Nashville. Each entrant may submit one poem of no more than 25 words and 10 lines in any style except concrete (shape poems) or black out poems (marker covering another author’s text to create a poem). The content of the poem should be the original, individual work of the entrant and needs to be appropriate for a general audience. Entrants must complete the entry form in its entirety and may submit no more than one poem. Employees and agents of Metro Nashville Government and their immediate families are ineligible and may not enter. Selected poets from last year’s Poetry in Motion® are also ineligible. All minors below the age of 18 who have their poem selected will need a parental release signed prior to publication.
Copyrights: The author retains all copyrights to the submitted poem. By entering the contest, you consent to the publication and usage of your poem by the Metro Nashville Arts Commission and the program partners.
Notification and Acknowledgement: Selections will be announced in March. Metro Arts and its partners may include poems in other print and on-line materials as part of the program roll-out. Selected writers will receive a $100 honorarium for participation in the program and may be asked to appear at an acknowledgement event.
Privacy Policy: Metro Arts and Southern Word collect personal information for the purpose of program communications and acknowledgments. Metro Arts does not lease, sell, or share personal information collected.
Poems are limited to 25 words and 10 lines maximum. There are no entry fees. SUBMISSION DEADLINE has been extended to Friday, January 17 at 11:59pm.
