Paid Poetry Competitions and Scholarships for Young Poets

A vetted resource for young poets — last reviewed May 2026. Prize amounts, deadlines, and eligibility windows shift year to year, so confirm the current cycle on each program's official site before submitting.

You can get paid for your poems. You can win scholarships with them. You can build a portfolio of recognized work before you finish high school. The opportunities are real, they're free to enter, and most of them are looking for exactly the voice that brought you here.

This page is the list. Bookmark it, sign up for our updates, and check back as we add new opportunities and launch our own competitions through Power Poetry Slams.

How to read a poetry contest before you enter it

Before you submit anywhere — including the well-known programs below — run through this short checklist. It saves you from wasted submissions and from the rare bad-faith contest.

• Prize and scholarship details. What's the actual award? Cash, publication, mentorship, a scholarship payable to a school, or some combination? When does it pay out — at announcement, at enrollment, or after a residency?
• Eligibility. Age range, country of residence, education status, and any prior-publication restrictions. Some prizes are for unpublished writers only; others welcome anyone in the age bracket.
• What you submit. A single poem? A portfolio of three to five? A whole manuscript? Are there length limits, and do they count by line, page, or word? Is a cover letter or short bio required?
• Cycles and deadlines. Annual, monthly, or rolling? If you miss this year by a week, you generally just wait twelve months — bookmark it.
• Reputation and legitimacy. Real contests have an institutional sponsor (a foundation, a magazine, a university), publicly listed judges, transparent rules, and visible past winners. If a contest charges a high entry fee, has no listed past winners, or asks for rights you don't understand — walk away.
• Publication. If your poem wins, where is it published? Print, online, anthology, or all three? Do you keep your rights, or do you assign them?

Start here: free, youth-focused, monthly cycles

If you've never entered a competition before, Write the World is the cleanest place to start.

Write the World

A nonprofit platform that runs free monthly creative-writing competitions for ages 13–18, including regular poetry prompts. Submissions stay short, judging is clearly explained, and winners are highlighted on the site. Beyond contests, the platform hosts peer review, daily prompts, and a community of teen writers worldwide.

• Cost to enter: Free.
• Eligibility: Ages 13–18, anywhere in the world.
• Prize: Recognition plus small cash awards for monthly competitions; check the current month's competition page for amounts.
• Cycle: New competition each month.
• Submit: Free account at writetheworld.org, then enter the active competition.

Why it's a good first step: low stakes, fast cycle, and the editorial feedback alone is worth the time.

Major US competitions for teen poets

These are the big, long-running ones. Free or low-cost to enter, well-known to college admissions readers, and a real line on a young poet's bio.

Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

Run by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers since 1923. The poetry category accepts grades 7–12 in the US, US territories, and Canadian schools. Regional Gold Keys advance to national judging; National Medalists receive scholarships, publication in the Best Teen Writing anthology, and exhibition opportunities. Past Scholastic poetry alums include Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Joyce Carol Oates, Tracy K. Smith, and Amanda Gorman.

• Eligibility: Grades 7–12, US/Canada/US territories.
• Prize: Scholarships at the National Medalist level; recognition at regional and national.
• Submit: Single poems or portfolios; submission opens each fall, deadlines vary by region.
• Site: artandwriting.org

YoungArts

National YoungArts Foundation runs an annual competition in ten artistic disciplines including writing, with poetry as a recognized category for ages 15–18 and grades 10–12. Finalists are eligible to be nominated for the U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts.

• Eligibility: US citizens or permanent residents, ages 15–18 or grades 10–12.
• Prize: Cash awards at the Finalist level plus a fully funded YoungArts Week with master-class instruction.
• Submit: Online portfolio with multiple poems.
• Site: youngarts.org

Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award

Run by the Poetry Society in the UK, but open internationally to ages 11–17. Free entry. Top fifteen winners receive a week-long Arvon residency; top eighty-five winners are highlighted in the annual anthology. One of the largest free poetry competitions for teens worldwide.

• Eligibility: Ages 11–17, anywhere in the world.
• Cost: Free.
• Prize: Residency, anthology publication, mentorship, and cash awards for top winners.
• Submit: Up to as many poems as you want, any subject, any form.
• Site: poetrysociety.org.uk

The Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize

Run by The Kenyon Review for high school sophomores and juniors. Winner receives a full scholarship to the Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop and publication in The Kenyon Review.

• Eligibility: Sophomores and juniors in high school.
• Cost: Free.
• Prize: Full Young Writers Workshop scholarship plus publication.
• Submit: One poem, online via the Kenyon Review portal.
• Site: kenyonreview.org

Princeton University's Leonard L. Milberg High School Poetry Prize

Annual prize from the Princeton University Lewis Center for the Arts, for high school juniors in the US.

• Eligibility: High school juniors.
• Cost: Free.
• Prize: First, second, third place cash awards.
• Submit: Three poems, online.
• Site: arts.princeton.edu

The Adroit Prizes for Poetry & Prose

The Adroit Journal's annual prize, with separate categories for secondary school writers and undergraduate writers.

• Eligibility: Two tracks — current high-school students, and current undergraduates.
• Cost: Modest entry fee, with fee waivers usually available.
• Prize: Cash award plus publication in The Adroit Journal.
• Submit: Up to six poems for the poetry prize.
• Site: theadroitjournal.org

Live Poets Society of NJ — National High School Poetry Contest

Free national contest for US and Canadian high schoolers, three cycles per year (fall, winter, spring).

• Eligibility: US and Canadian high school students.
• Cost: Free.
• Prize: First, second, third place cash awards each cycle.
• Submit: One poem per cycle, twenty lines or fewer.
• Site: livepoetssocietynj.org

River of Words

International environmental poetry and art contest for K–12 students worldwide, run in partnership with the Center for Environmental Literacy at Saint Mary's College of California. Subject must connect to the watershed where the writer lives.

• Eligibility: Ages 5–19, internationally.
• Cost: Free.
• Prize: Recognition plus publication; Grand Prize and Finalist designations.
• Submit: One poem, and/or one piece of visual art.
• Site: riverofwords.org

Scholarships where poetry is the path

These aren't poetry contests in the strict sense — they're scholarships where a strong creative-writing portfolio (poetry counts) is the point of entry.

Davidson Fellows Scholarship

For students 18 or younger who have completed a significant work of original literature, including poetry collections. Awards $10,000, $25,000, and $50,000 college scholarships.

• Eligibility: US citizens or permanent residents, age 18 or younger by submission deadline.
• Cost: Free.
• Prize: $10K / $25K / $50K college scholarships.
• Submit: Significant project — for poetry, typically a substantial portfolio or manuscript with a written description.
• Site: davidsongifted.org

State arts council scholarships

Many state arts councils (California Arts Council, Mass Cultural Council, Texas Commission on the Arts, and others) offer creative-writing scholarships and fellowships open to high school or undergraduate residents. Check your state arts council's website — these aren't centrally listed but are reliable sources of small-to-medium awards.

University-specific creative writing scholarships

A number of MFA and undergraduate creative writing programs offer named scholarships that strong applicants can win on the strength of their portfolio: Iowa Young Writers' Studio, Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop, Sewanee Young Writers' Conference, among others. Many summer-program scholarships are need-based plus merit-based — apply.

Where to keep tracking new opportunities

A real poetry practice means watching for opportunities all year, not just at submission deadline. Three places to bookmark:

• Poets & Writers Deadlines — the most comprehensive single database of literary contests, fellowships, and grants. Filter by genre (poetry) and eligibility.
• Submittable Discover — the platform many contests use to accept entries. The Discover page lists currently open calls.
• Your local literary center — Hugo House (Seattle), GrubStreet (Boston), 826 chapters nationally, Loft Literary Center (Minneapolis), Cave Canem (for Black poets), Kundiman (for Asian American poets), Lambda Literary (for LGBTQ+ writers). Local centers run regional contests with smaller fields and better odds.

How to actually win one of these

A few unglamorous truths from past winners:

• Submit your strongest three poems, not your most recent three. Editors read fast. Lead with the line that stops a reader.
• Read the previous winners. Every program publishes its winning poems somewhere. If your work feels nothing like what a program selects, that's information — pick a different program.
• Follow the rules exactly. Line limits, file format, blind judging requirements — these are the easiest reasons to be cut, and they have nothing to do with your poem.
• Don't pay big entry fees you can't afford. Most legitimate youth-focused contests are free, low-cost, or have fee waivers available on request. If a program won't waive a fee for a teen, that's a sign to skip it.
• Submit the same poems to multiple contests unless a program explicitly requires unpublished or unsubmitted work. Many strong young poets stack a single fall season with five or six entries.
• Reject the rejection. Even Pulitzer winners have stacks of declines. Each "no" is a poem you sent — that's the whole skill.

Coming soon: Power Poetry Slam competitions

Power Poetry is building toward our own competitions through the Poetry Slam program. The vision: themed slams with cash prizes, paid features, and submission paths for poets who want their work taken seriously beyond the page. We'll announce dates, themes, and prize structures here as soon as they're finalized. Until then — keep writing, keep entering the programs above, and bookmark this page.

Stay in the loop

• Sign up for Power Poetry updates to get a notification when our Slam competitions open.
• Follow Power Poetry on Instagram and TikTok for new opportunities.
• Tell us if we missed one. If you know of a reputable, youth-friendly contest or scholarship not listed here, contact us and we'll add it.

The poems are yours. The rooms that need them are real. Submit.