The $5,250 Margaret Reid Prize for Traditional Verse will close at midnight, June 30. However, the $5,250 Tom Howard Contest for Poetry in All Styles and Genres will remain open until September 30. 

By midnight, we mean midnight, Pacific time, if you lodge entries on-line; or entries bearing a postmark no later than July 1 if you send them through the mail. 

Here is a quick rundown of the rules for the Margaret Reid Prize:

Total prize money of $5,250 includes a First Prize of $2,000, a Second Prize of $1,000 and a Third Prize of $500. There are 14 cash prizes in all.

Entry fee is $6 for every 25 lines (or part thereof). THERE IS NO LINE LIMIT. 

THERE ARE ALSO NO LIMITS ON THE NUMBER OF POEMS YOU MAY SUBMIT.

We will accept both unpublished verse and published verse (so long as you are able to give us permission to publish your winning poem on the Winning Writers website). Free print publication will also be available in our next printed anthology, but winners are not obliged to accept this offer. 

All prize-winners of both the current Margaret Reid Poetry Prize for Traditional Verse and the current Tom Howard Poetry Contest for Verse in All Styles and Genres, will be offered traditional print publication in a book of similar size and quality to SAILING IN THE MIST OF TIME. 

If you wish to check out "Sailing in the Mist of Time", this beautifully printed, large format book which usually retails for $16.50, is still being vigorously promoted at Amazon and other stores for only $9.95. You'll find a link to the list of selected poets and their works at http://poetrycontests.exactpages.com  

 Only $9.95 at Amazon: SAILING IN THE MIST OF TIME: Fifty Award-Winning Poems

You'll find full details for both contests at http://margaretreid.exactpages.com OR http://www.poetrycontests.exactpages.com

For the Margaret Reid Prize only, you can click http://www.geocities.com/rastar330

For the Tom Howard Contest only: http://tomhowardpoetry.bravepages.com OR http://www.geocities.com/rastar330/poetry.htm

FORMATTING: We have no special rules regarding the formatting of your work. Basically, you can please yourself. As email is not kind to formatting, the judges disregard formatting when judging submissions. In any case, please be aware that many of the changes in formatting occur only in the copy that is emailed back to you for confirmation. Many entrants go to the trouble of re-submitting their entries, but in most cases the "reformatted" version is exactly the same as the one the judges actually received. 

Please note that all subjects, including humorous poems and comic verse, are most welcome in both contests. Humorous poems are currently in short supply in the Margaret Reid Prize, even though such entries have won awards in the past. In my opinion, rhyming and metrical verse are especially suitable for humor. Here in fact are just the opening lines of a little effort from your judges, entitled "The Lion's Lion". I'll publish the rest later for your amusement on one of the above websites.

All my very best to you all, 

John

      The Lion's Lion 

A Lion met a Tiger in Phoenix one day.

They sang and they danced and then wrote a play.

Having as jolly a time as can be,

they twirled and whirled, singing, "Diddle-Dee-Dee."

But Tiger claimed, "My role is smaller than yours;

so I shall provide you provocative lures:

I'll growl, I'll prowl, I'll sing 'Cat's Pajamas';

then I'll try my hand at Fernando Lamas."  

The Lion fretted and frowned and felt at a loss;

then shaking his mane--with a magnificent toss

to imply his role as the consummate boss--

he thrust himself on a throne of green moss.

"No way will a Lion compete with his slave,

so button your lip and learn to behave!"

Tiger turned tail, and conceding defeat,

with one mighty wail, his retreat was complete.

Lion felt sad at his role rival's stance,

so he reined and restrained his victory dance.

No play's worth playing with only one player.

So, concocting a plot, layer by layer,

he changed Tiger's part to a Fox or a Frog.

         TO BE CONTINUED