Poetry Contest USA 2026, Score for Every Poet
Quick answer: Monthly poetry contest for US poets. $5 entry, $100 top prize, every poem scored on 5 criteria, a certificate for all. Submit by the 25th, results the 30th.
American poetry has never had one centre. Whitman opened out the long line, Dickinson worked in near silence, the slam started in a Chicago jazz club in the 1980s, and Poetry Out Loud now puts verse on high school stages in every state. The prize landscape mirrors that spread, with universities, foundations and long established journals running annual awards that most entrants never hear back from.
Writory runs on a different clock. A new contest opens on the 1st of every month and closes on the 25th, with results on the 30th. Entry starts at $5, the minimum age is 13, poems in any language are accepted, and every entrant, not only the winners, receives a participation certificate and a five criteria score across creativity, emotion, structure, language and impact and resonance. Poets from 40 countries have taken part, so an American poem lands beside work from Lagos, Manila and Belgrade rather than only the next MFA cohort. American poems place here as well: in July 2026 Tess Lockhart's Last Date took fourth overall at 94, on the public leaderboard.
The United States has the deepest poetry infrastructure in the world, the Poetry Foundation, the Academy of American Poets, a National Poetry Month every April, and a literary magazine culture built on submit and wait. The waiting is the tax: months of silence, then a form rejection with no reason attached. The one thing the American ecosystem almost never gives a poet is a number and an explanation.
That is the trade offered here: every entry is read blind and scored out of 100 against five published criteria, creativity, emotion, structure, language and impact and resonance, and the breakdown is returned with the results, days after the deadline rather than seasons. An unpublished poet in Oklahoma is read on identical terms with everyone else, because no name reaches the judge.
Entries close on the 25th of every month, early afternoon Eastern time, results are published by the 30th, winners are paid through PayPal, and every entrant receives a certificate carrying their name and the title Writorian. The poet keeps every right to the poem.
Writory is a monthly poetry contest American poets can enter from any state for $5, with cash prizes for winners and a certificate plus a five criteria score for every single entrant.
Why enter
- A US poem took 4th place in July 2026, Tess Lockhart's Last Date at 94, so the field is international and Americans genuinely place in it
- Everyone who enters receives scores rather than a form rejection, which is not how most American journals and prizes close a cycle.
- Five dollars for one poem sits at the low end of US entry fees, and no membership or subscription is bundled into it.
- High school and college writers can enter from age 13, and the certificate is something real to put in a portfolio or a college application.
- Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Navajo or any other language spoken in the United States is accepted, and Reedsy and Duotrope both list Writory if you want to check it first.
What winners and entrants receive
- Cash prizes are awarded to the winning poems each month, and the top ten appear on a public leaderboard anyone can look up.
- Every US entrant receives a participation certificate, whether the poem takes a prize or finishes last.
- A win covers the following month's entry, and so does entering three consecutive months.
- Scores for creativity, emotion, structure, language and impact and resonance are saved to your profile, which gives a writing student or an MFA applicant an actual record of feedback.
Free verse, slam and spoken word scripts, confessional and narrative poems, the American sonnet, haiku, prose poems and bilingual work all belong in the same monthly contest.
Key facts
- Entries open the 1st, close the 25th at 11:59 PM IST, results on the 30th.
- One poem costs $5, two $8 and five $15. In India: Rs 150, Rs 220 and Rs 450. Optional add-ons are shown separately before payment.
- Every poem scored by human judges on five criteria: creativity, emotion, structure, language and impact and resonance.
- A participation certificate for every entrant, not only winners, and the score is visible in your profile.
- Cash prizes for winners, free entry the following month for winners, open worldwide from age 13, any language.
Questions
Can I enter from the United States, and is there an age requirement?
Yes, writers aged 13 or older can enter from any US state under the contest rules. Entrants under 18 need a parent or guardian's permission to enter and receive a prize. Everything is handled online; available payment methods and fees are shown before payment.
How is the scoring kept honest?
Poems are marked against five fixed criteria, creativity, emotion, structure, language and impact and resonance, and every entrant sees their own numbers in their profile after results. Reputation, degrees and prior publications play no part, because the score sheet has no field for them.
What is the entry fee for US poets?
$5 for one poem, $8 for two and $15 for five, charged in US dollars with no conversion for American entrants. Winners get the following month free, and three months of consecutive entries earns a free entry too.
How quickly are results announced?
Your entry belongs to the current open contest round. Entries close on the 25th at 11:59 PM IST; results are scheduled for the 30th at 8:00 PM IST, or the last day in February. From the 26th, new entries belong to the following round.
When is the deadline in US time?
The current poetry round closes on October 25, 2026 at 11:59 PM GMT+5:30 (India Standard Time). US times: Eastern: October 25, 2026 at 2:29 PM EDT; Central: October 25, 2026 at 1:29 PM CDT; Mountain: October 25, 2026 at 12:29 PM MDT; Pacific: October 25, 2026 at 11:29 AM PDT. Other US time zones may differ; convert this exact instant to your own time zone and submit before it. Submit before this deadline; later entries belong to the next round.
How fast do results actually come?
Judging takes place after the deadline. Results, scores and certificates are scheduled for the 30th at 8:00 PM IST, or the last day in February. Check the current round dates on the entry page.
Where can I verify this contest is legitimate?
Writory is listed on Duotrope and on Christopher Fielden's international competition list, both independent directories that vet what they carry, and every certificate carries a verification link you can check online.
Related contests
Every American competition with its fee and deadline: Poetry Contests in the United States 2026.
By the Writory editorial team. Updated September 2026.
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