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Tampa Bay Times Newspaper in Education
EXPLORING THE WORLD THROUGH VERSE POETRY CONTEST
Sponsored by the Tampa Bay Times Newspaper in Education program
and the St. Petersburg International Folk Fair Society

Entries accepted Nov. 15, 2026–Jan. 15, 2027

Student poets: Submit an original, unpublished poem with a theme of cultural diversity, global issues or global-local connections! The winning poem will be published in print and online, and the winning author will be invited to read their poem onstage at the 51st Annual International Folk Fair in March 2027.

Rules:

  • The contest is open to all students 13 and older in Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota counties.
  • Poems must be previously unpublished and unsold.
  • Poems must be 25 lines or less.
  • Poems may be in any poetic style.
  • Poems must be original. Plagiarism of any kind will result in disqualification.
  • The use of generative artificial intelligence (generative AI), including large language models (LLMs) in any capacity is prohibited. “Generative AI” refers to AI systems designed to produce new creative content from text prompts, audio prompts or other automated inputs. Examples include but are not limited to: ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, Grammarly and Grok.
  • There is no fee to enter, and no limit to the number of poems a student may submit.

Entry Form

Poem Information
Poem Title:
File:

(Must be .pdf, .doc or .docx. If you experience difficulty uploading a .doc or .docx file, save your file as a .pdf and try again. No other file type is accepted and attempting to attach another file type will cause your submission to fail.)
Author Information
Name:
School Name:
Grade Level:
E-mail Address:
Telephone Number:
Address:
City:
State:
County:
Zip:
Pronouns:
Please tell us how you heard about our contest – check all that apply (optional)

Teacher or school personnel
Flyer or poster
Email
Social media
Other
Entry into this promotion constitutes the Entrant’s certification that he or she has obtained the permission of his or her parent or legal guardian to enter; that both the Entrant and his or her parent or legal guardian have read the Official Rules and that the Entrant and parent or legal guardian fully and unconditionally agree to be bound by these rules.
 

The contest will begin accepting sumbissions November 15th.


If you experience technical difficulties while submitting your story, please contact us during regular
business hours at 727-893-8969 or sbedry@tampabay.com.