Contest Guidelines
First Prize, $500; Three Honorable Mention Prizes, $100 each.
Winning Poems will be published in The Merton Seasonal, a publication of scholarly articles about noted spiritual leader Thomas Merton and will be posted on the Merton Institute web site: www.mertoninstitute.org.
Only ONE unpublished poem type written in English may be submitted.
Please limit the poem to no more than 100 lines.
Type your name, address, phone numberemail address, and the title of your poem on a cover page. Attach (1) one copy of your titled poem to the cover page.
Submit your poem on a page with no identifying information. All identifying information should be on your cover page. Include a submission fee of $15.00 with the poem.
Poems will not be accepted via email. The poem must be sent via through the postal service. Deadline to submit poems is January 31, 2012
Submit poem to: Merton Institute, 415 West Muhammad Ali Blvd., Louisville, KY 40202. Include a $15 submission fee payable to The Merton Institute.
No poems will be returned.
Poems will be judged on literary excellence, spiritual tenor, and human authenticity.
Winners will be announced by April 1, 2012. Please visit the Institute website for contest results.
All contestants will be notified via email of the contest results.
The Judge
The 2012 Poetry of the Sacred contest will be judged by Gregory Wolfe. He is the founder and editor of Image, one of America’s leading quarterly journals. Mr. Wolfe serves as Writer in Residence and Director of the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program at Seattle Pacific University. His books include Beauty Will Save the World: Recovering the Human in an Ideological Age, Intruding Upon the Timeless: Meditations on Art, Faith, and Mystery, Malcolm Muggeridge: A Biography, and Sacred Passion: The Art of William Schickel. In 2005, he served as a judge in nonfiction for the National Book Awards. More information about Gregory Wolfe can be found on his website.
What is poetry of the sacred?
Poetry that expresses, directly or indirectly, a sense of the holy or that, by its mode of expression, evokes the sacred. The tone may be religious, prophetic, or contemplative.
