2025 Valentine's Poetry Contest

An Ode to Anything but a Person

Inscape Journal is looking for submissions for the first annual 2025 Valentine's Day Poetry Contest! The theme is "An Ode to Anything But a Person." Poems should be no longer than 1,000 words in length (feel free to write less) and should express a love for someTHING. Examples might be a love poem to cheeseburgers, a car, or junk mail, etc. Creative submissions are encouraged and should follow Inscape's guidelines.

Prizes: $50 for first place, $25 for the runner up. Winners will read at an awards ceremony on February 19 at 7:00 p.m. in the JFSB B092 auditorium. The public is invited to attend.
 

Submission Guidelines:

1. To submit to the contest, create a free Submittable account (see button below).
2. Writers may submit poems of 1000 words or less in any genre. Each submission may only include 1 piece. 
3. Contest entry fee is $4 for each individual submission.
4. There is no limit to the number of submissions a writer may submit. 
5. Contest deadline is January 31st at 11:59 p.m.
6. Please submit as a .doc, .docx, or .pdf file.
7. Do not include your name in any of the attachments.
8. Do not submit previously published work. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please let us know if your piece has been accepted somewhere else.
9. Current Inscape staff members may not be considered for publication. Staff members may submit their work in order to get blind workshop feedback; however, you must talk to the editors prior to doing so.
10. We do not accept pieces that invoke the name of deity as an expletive.
11. Any submission that does not follow these guidelines will not be considered.

Since 1982, Inscape journal has curated pieces that are both peculiar and gorgeous without compromising craftsmanship and excellence. Averse to gratuitous violence, language and sex, we look for pieces that treat sensitive subjects with maturity and respect. Our favorite submissions explore refreshing takes on both the fantastic and the everyday. As a staff firmly rooted in following Jesus Christ and His teachings, we hope for submissions from people of all religious perspectives, countries, cultures, ethnicities, sexual orientations, genders, backgrounds, and experiences. We welcome you to Inscape, home of the bizarre, believing, and beautiful.

Inscape publishes well–crafted fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and visual art that embodies one or more of our five defining identities: smart, believing, peculiar, refreshing, and excellent.  

Inscape observes US Fair Use copyright doctrine which states that 

1. authors must own the copyright of their submitted work and have full power to enter into a publication agreement with Inscape and to convey any rights they may grant to Inscape. 
2. the author’s submitted work constitutes their own original work or gives credit for ideas or material not their own, and does not in any way violate copyright. 
3. the author’s submitted work may not defame, invade the privacy of, violate the civil rights of, or infringe upon the rights of any individuals or third parties. 
4. the author has permission to submit a particular work to Inscape on behalf of all other authors in the event the submitted work has more than one author.