GBF Annual High School Poetry Contest Seeks Student Perspectives on Civic Duty
Winning poet to be awarded $250 prize at 2025 Festival on May 17
Gaithersburg, Md. – August 19, 2024 – The Gaithersburg Book Festival is proud to announce that its annual high school poetry contest is now open for submissions. This year’s theme is civic duty. Poets are encouraged to address what civic duty means to them, why it is important to them, what citizens should be expected to do, what duties should young people engage in and more. The sky’s the limit.
First- and second-place winners will receive $250 and $100, respectively. Third place and fan favorite winners will receive $50 and $25, respectively.
Winners will be unveiled at the 2025 Gaithersburg Book Festival on May 17, 2025, at Bohrer Park at Summit Hall Farm. The top 3 winners and the Fan Favorite will be asked to read their winning poems during the awards ceremony.
“We’re looking forward to another great showcase for our student poets,” said Jud Ashman, Festival chair and Mayor of the City of Gaithersburg. “Last year’s finalists did phenomenal work for our 15th anniversary celebration, and this election year, I cannot wait to delve into what our young poets have to share about civic duty.”
To participate, students must be enrolled in grades 9-12 at a public or private high school, or be in a homeschool program, for the 2024-2025 school year. Additionally, entrants must reside in Maryland, Virginia or the District of Columbia.
This year, students are asked to craft a poem on the topic: Civic Duty.
Submission guidelines:
- Be a Word document (.doc or .docx)
- Typed in 12 pt. Times New Roman
- One page in length
- File name should be the title of the poem only (e.g., The_Red_Fern.doc)
- Do not include the name of the student or school in the file name or on the document
- Must be the original work of the student and not previously published online or in print
- Poems generated by artificial intelligence will not be accepted
By submitting work to the contest, students grant the Gaithersburg Book Festival a non-exclusive license to publish, distribute, transmit and exhibit the poem, and any portions thereof, via any medium without financial compensation.
Poems must be submitted electronically via web by midnight ET on Thursday, February 20, 2025.
Up to 12 poems will be selected as finalists and posted on the Gaithersburg Book Festival website prior to the Festival. Finalists will also be asked to record a video of themselves reading their poems, which will be posted on Gaithersburg Book Festival website. A release will be required.
Complete rules and regulations can be found on the Festival website. Questions can be emailed to writingcontest@gaithersburgbookfestival.org.
About the Gaithersburg Book Festival
The Gaithersburg Book Festival is an annual all-day celebration of books, writers and literary excellence. One of the premier literary events in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, the 2025 Festival took place Saturday, May 17, at Bohrer Park at Summit Hall Farm (506 S. Frederick Ave.) in Gaithersburg, Md. The Gaithersburg Book Festival also hosts author events in Montgomery County, Md., throughout the year to encourage continued appreciation for all things literary. For more information please visit www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org, follow us on Twitter @GburgBookFest or like us on Facebook and Instagram.