Submit up to two previously unpublished poems per entry fee of $22; each poem should be 30 lines or less and respond to a work of art. We particularly encourage submissions written in response to one of the over 16,000 works in the NCMA’s permanent collection, which may be viewed online here.

Prizes:

First place: $500 and a copy of a broadside made by Terry Schupback-Gordon featuring the winning poem

Second place: $300

Third place $100

All winning poems will be published in Tar River Poetry. All entries will be considered for publication.

Winners will be invited to read their work in person or via Zoom at the End Paper: NCMA Art Book Fair at the North Carolina Museum of Art in September 2025.

The competition is open to all poets writing in English.

Entrants may submit more than once.

We look forward to reading your work.

We gratefully acknowledge our contest sponsor, the North Carolina Museum of Art.