NOTE: CONTEST ENDED FEB 28, 2017.  Read winning poems by going to  Contest Winners at the top of the home page.

You are invited to respond to the theme of  ‘WORK’ ” with poems that reflect activities, experiences, feelings, thoughts, the way that work impacts your life, etc.

Poems must be submitted on Submittable between Sept. 5, 2016 and Feb. 28, 2017. Three prizes will be awarded on May 1, 2017; the amount of the prize depends on when you enter; the entry fee is unchanged whenever you submit, but the prize is reduced for later entries.*

*Pubic Poetry Members can submit in January & February and the prize amount is not reduced. For membership information click HERE.   

FOR ENTRIES SUBMITTED SEPTEMBER 5 – DECEMBER 30, 2016
1st PRIZE………… $1160     (1 month’s salary @ $7.25 minimum wage¹)
2nd  PRIZE……… $ 580     (2 weeks’ wages @ $7.25 minimum wage)
3rd  PRIZE………. $   58     (8 hour day @ $7.25 minimum wage)

FOR ENTRIES SUBMITTED JANUARY 1 – FEBRUARY 28, 2017
1st PRIZE….……$1074      (1 month minimum wage with deductions²)
2nd  PRIZE ……$ 537      (2 weeks minimum wage with deductions)
3rd  PRIZE……..$  53      (8 hr. day minimum wage with deductions)

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ENTRY FEE: $7.25 one poem*~3 poems for $20~5 poems for $30

*NOTE: Multiple poems can be submitted any time from September 5, 2016 until February 28, 2017.  Single poems can be entered in September,October and November 2016 ONLY.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

ELIGIBILITY: no limitations
POEM LENGTH:  40 lines maximum;
NUMBER OF POEMS: No limit; each poem must have a separate page and a title.  If Untitled, write “Untitled” and put the first three words of the first line in parenthesis.
ENTRIES: On Submittable only; no emails or hard copy.
Poems will be judged blind by a panel comprised of people from different sectors of the economy

1. According to the US Dept of Labor, sixteen states currently pay a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour; twenty nine pay over this amount. Four southern states have no state minimum wage and two pay below $7.25 per hour.  People who work for tips, at businesses with gross revenue under $500,000, full time students working retail or service, many agricultural workers, seasonal workers and disabled workers are among those exempt from minimum wage and can legally be paid as little as $2.13 per hour!

2.Employers deduct for Social Security and Medicare. At minimum wage, 7.1% of earnings are withheld.

“All labor that upholds humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”   – Martin Luther King