North Carolina Poetry Society’s wonderful Student Contests Director, Arianna Del Palazzo, has been hard at work organizing the contests for students from grade 3 and up. The winning poems will published alongside our adult winners in the Pinesong awards anthology. The student poets will also be invited to read their work at Awards Day. Here …
Author Archives: Craig Kittner
awards announcement!
It’s that time! Our 12 judges have made their selections for the North Carolina Poetry Society Pinesong Awards for 2020. Many of them pointed out that the process was both challenging and rewarding given the high quality of the submissions. North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green wrote, “It is both delightful and inspiring to …
fantastical magical notebooks
Happy New Year, poets! It’s hard to believe it, but we are one week away from the Pinesong Awards submission deadline. Between researching and writing this blog, processing entries, and keeping up with the North Carolina Poetry Society board of directors, I have logged more computer time than ever over the last few months. This …
from NC to NYC
The 2019 edition of Pinesong is heading to the Big Apple. Poets House, a national poetry library and literary center, has added the 55th Volume of the North Carolina Poetry Society’s awards anthology to its collection of over 70,000 poetry books. In addition to its inclusion in the collection, Pinesong 2019 will be on exhibit …
let loose your voice
How’s your poetic voice doing? Is it clear and strong? Or is it meek and in need of an ego boost? Perhaps it’s a little tired. Fallen into a repetitive pattern that no longer intrigues as it once did. If your voice could use polishing, I recommend a contest submission to motivate you to apply …
five added benefits
Why should you enter a poetry contest? If you’re answer is “to win a prize,” you may be selling the experience short. Winning a prize is great but if you want to get the maximum benefit out of entering a contest, ask yourself how it can enhance your writing. Consider these five approaches: Finish new …
traditional challenge
Hello there, poet. Since you are reading this, I’d like to propose a challenge: write something in a traditional poetic form that is new to you and submit it to the Joanna Catherine Scott Award. Why should you accept this challenge? For one thing, writing in a traditional form is wonderful practice for writing in …
something about sestinas
So, I decided I should write a sestina. I figured if I was going to ask other poets to extend themselves and write something in a form they hadn’t utilized before (and, yes, I am asking you to do that), I should be willing to do the same. Sestinas have a complex structure, and yet …
5 tips from the director
We have roughly seven weeks left in the submission period for our 2020 contests. Poems are starting to roll in nicely, and I think the time is right for some tips. Double check your line count: every contest has a line limit. Read the rules carefully to see the limit for each contest. Submissions that …
approaching haiku
Haiku is commonly described as a nature poem in three lines with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second line, and 5 in the third line. This definition is at best old-fashioned and at worst erroneous. The reality of haiku today is much more complicated. It is a powerful discipline that is …
