We are please to announce our first ever Sonnet and Haiku Weekend Contest in celebration of National Poetry Month. The contest will start 9 AM EST on April 28th and the deadline will be midnight (11:59 PM EST) on Sunday, April 30th. And you are invited to participate!
Winners will receive a free ticket to the Geek Gala as well as having their poetry read on air and published on the website. And entry is free!
CONTEST HAS ENDED.
WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED MAY 3rd.
The Rules:
- You will have the weekend to write either a Shakespearean sonnet or traditional haiku (or both). The topics for each will be posted on this site before 9 AM on Friday, April 28th. Deadline for submissions is 11:59 PM on Sunday, April 30th.
- The sonnet and/or haiku must utilize the posted topic, conform to the posted structure guidelines (see below) and be an original, unpublished work.
- Poems must be submitted using the contest entry form below.
- Only one submission per poem type per person. Please submit each poem separately.
- Please do not post your submitted poetry elsewhere until after the judging is complete and the winners announced!
- Participants agree to have their work potentially published in a small anthology to benefit the Geek Gala operating costs. (Participants retain all other rights.)
- 2 winners will be chosen – one for each poem type. The winners will each have their poem read on the Guardians of the Geekery podcast, published on this website, and will receive one ticket for this year’s Geek Gala – Oct 21.
- All decisions of the judges are final.
Shakespearean Sonnet Structure
There are fourteen lines in a Shakespearean sonnet. The first twelve lines are divided into three quatrains with four lines each. In the three quatrains the poet establishes a theme or problem and then resolves it in the final two lines, called the couplet.
Rhyming Structure: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
Haiku Structure
There are no specific rules for writing haiku; however, the structure of haiku is always the same, including the following features:
- Only three lines, totaling 17 syllables throughout
- The first line is only 5 syllables
- The second line is 7 syllables
- The third line is 5 syllables like the first
- Punctuation and capitalization rules are up to the poet, and need not follow rigid rules used in structuring sentences
- Haiku does not have to rhyme, in fact many times it does not rhyme at all
- Some haiku can include the repetition of words or sounds
Syllable Structure: 5-7-5
Contest Entry Form
THEMES
- Sonnet: The Tale of Kaiju
- Haiku: Use the word “attack”
REMEMBER: You may only submit 1 poem for each theme. May the odds be ever in your favor!
