Beverly Hopkins Poetry Contest for High School Students

SUBMISSIONS OPEN DECEMBER 1

First Prize: $225
Second Prize: $125
Third Prize: $75

Winning poems will be published on Saint Louis Poetry Center’s website.

2024 Contest Judge:

Elijah Burrell

Elijah B urr ell is the author of Skies of Blur (EastOver Press, 2024), TROUBLER (Aldrich Press, 2018) and The Skin of the River (Aldrich Press, 2014). His writing has appeared in numerous publications such as AGNI, North American Review, The Hopkins Review, Southwest Review, The Rumpus, and many others. Burrell received the 2010 Jane Kenyon Scholarship at Bennington College, where he earned his MFA in Writing and Literature at Bennington’s Writing Seminars. In 2012 he joined the faculty of Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri. A Professor in Lincoln’s Department of Humanities and Communications, he teaches creative writing.

Submissions Open:
December 1 – March 15

Entry Fee:
None

GUIDELINES:

Open to all high school students in the St. Louis metro area living within a 100-mile radius of St. Louis
Submit up to 3 typed poems per entry, any form and length
No manuscripts will be returned
Poems previously published in high school publications are allowed
Include name (no pen name required) and email address on each poem
Enclose a cover sheet that includes: name, address, phone number, email address, high school, grade, teacher’s name (if she/he/they encouraged or assigned the poems), and the titles of the poems submitted
Contest results will be announced in May

Prize winners and honorable mentions are invited to read their poems at Saint Louis Poetry Center’s annual Poetry Concert.

HOW TO SUBMIT:

Submit Online

Or mail entries to:
Saint Louis Poetry Center
Hopkins High School Poetry Contest
3301 Washington Ave. # 2D
Saint Louis, MO 63103

ONLINE & POSTMARK DEADLINE EXTENDED: March 15, 2024

Questions:
If you have questions or any issues submitting your contest entry online, please email:
[email protected]

Congratulations to our 2023 Winners!

FIRST PLACE
Hira Ahmed, Parkway South High School
the motherland –

SECOND PLACE
Shangri-La Hou, John Burroughs School
Second Migration

THIRD PLACE
Ovya Diwakaran, Ladue Horton Watkins High School
Identity Series Poems, I and II

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Zayna Fakhani, Parkway South High School
Empire

Meg Handley, Nerinx Hall High School
Quilts

Shangri-La Hou, John Burroughs School
Sandia

Bethany Lai, Clayton High School
Xi Herculis

Mohini Mahajan, Clayton High School
A Floridian’s Pastoral: From Heat-Waves to Hieratic

Congratulations to our 2022 Winners!

FIRST PLACE
Tenley Hall, Clayton High School
Up North

SECOND PLACE
Jelani Penny-Johnson, Metro Academic & Classical High School
This is the Life We Have

THIRD PLACE
Margaret Handley, Nerinx Hall High School
Threadwork

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Delaney Carey, Nerinx Hall High School
To Pin A Bouncy-Ball Down

Charlie Wagner, St. Louis Priory School
What the Bartender Said

Nicholas Merlo, Crossroads College Preparatory School
Kick Me While I’m Down

Tatum Ladner, Clayton High School
Brown Buttons

Congratulations to our 2021 Winners!

FIRST PLACE
Oviya Srihari, Ladue Horton Watkins High School
Partition as Narrated by an American Daughter

SECOND PLACE
Grace Ruo, Hazelwood West High School
African in America

THIRD PLACE
Cedric Bruges, St. Louis Priory School
Building Sandcastles

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Lara Wulff, Central Visual & Performing Arts High School
Cicada Funeral

Rachel Voss, Fort Zumwalt South High School
Moonshine Boy

Oviya Srihari, Ladue Horton Watkins High School
Advice from Your Daily Horoscope

Congratulations to our 2020 Winners!

FIRST PLACE
Rowan Elliott, Gateway Science Academy
Adagio

SECOND PLACE
Adam Figueras, St. Louis Priory School
If a Girl Kept All Her Kings in the Back Row

THIRD PLACE
Amina Aser, Parkway West High School
My Lost Art Project

Congratulations to our 2019 Winners!

FIRST PLACE
Megan McGhee, Kirkwood High School
Oldest Moon

SECOND PLACE
Ann Zhang, John Burroughs School
Doomsday: The Asian Superstore

THIRD PLACE
Rachel Lyu, St. Louis University High School
Untitled (The World After Wine)