Judged by representatives of the Abortion Care Network and Split This Rock, with special guest judge this year Katha Pollitt!
Sponsored by the Abortion Care Network and
More info: Making Waves: The Fourth Annual Abortion Rights Poetry Contest
Deadline: Midnight (EST), January 5, 2015
The Abortion Care Network (ACN), a national organization of independent abortion providers and prochoice supporters, and Split This Rock, a national organization that celebrates poetry that provokes social change, announce our Fourth Annual Abortion Rights Poetry Contest, to be held in conjunction with ACN’s annual conference in March 2015.
We are pleased that our panel of judges this year will include Katha Pollitt, the reknown polemicist, poet and feminist. She is currently touring the US to promote her new book Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights (2014), a defense of abortion as a social good. She is also the author of numerous collections of essays and poetry, including The Mind-Body Problem (2009).
The experience of people who seek abortion and other reproductive services is as varied as the individuals involved. For some, there is safety, relief, and good medical care. For others, there is doubt, harassment, and stigma. For all, health care takes place in a politicized context in which even the most basic choices about our bodies, sexuality, and childbearing can be scrutinized. Reproductive rights are also linked to a whole host of other social issues, such as economic status and the accessibility of safe, affordable health care.
ACN and Split This Rock welcome the submission of poems on these themes. We will award the following prizes: First ($100), Second ($75) and Third Place ($50), and Honorable Mention. The first-place winner will be invited to read the winning poem at ACN’s annual meeting. The prize-winning poems will be transformed into handcrafted artistic booklets distributed to all meeting attendees and will be published in the ACN’s quarterly newsletter, ACN Notes. Poems will also be placed onto the Split This Rock website at <www.SplitThisRock.org>. Poets from any part of the U.S. may submit poems, but we regret that no travel funds will be provided so that the winning poet may read at the meeting.
Read last year’s winning poems here.
Submission Guidelines:
• Submit up to 3 poems (6 pages maximum) by midnight, January 5, 2015, using Submittable, here:https://splitthisrock.submittable.com/submit/36539.
• If the form is not accessible to you, please contact us at info@splitthisrock.org.
• All styles and approaches accepted.
• Previously published in print is acceptable, but, please, not on the web.
• Simultaneous submissions accepted. Please inform us at info@splitthisrock.org immediately if the poem has been accepted for publication elsewhere.
Questions? Contact at: info@splitthisrock.org