Ekphrasis Competition
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Tar River Poetry welcomes submissions to our Ekphrasis Competition, sponsored by the North Carolina Museum of Art.
Writers are invited to submit up to two previously unpublished poems of no more than 30 lines each that respond to works of art. We particularly encourage submissions written about one of the over 16,000 works in the NCMA’s permanent collection, which may be viewed online. For each poem you submit, include the name of the artwork, artist, and image that inspires your work.
Prizes: first place $500, second place $300, third place $100, all published in TRP.
Winners will be invited to read their work in person or via Zoom at the End Paper: NCMA Art Book Fair award ceremony at the North Carolina Museum of Art in September 2025.
The first-place poem will also have a broadside made by Terry Schupbach-Gordon, which will be entered into End Paper’s broadside contest. Sales proceeds of the broadside will go solely to the letterpress artist.
The competition is open to all poets writing in English. The contest reading fee is $22 per submission.
Contestants may submit more than once.
All submissions will be considered for publication in Tar River Poetry. Writers will be contacted if their work is selected for publication.
The contest opens March 1, 2025 and closes May 1, 2025.