
Entry Forms: Download and fill out in PDF
Official Entry and Release Form – English
Formulario Oficial de Entrada y Autorizaciones – Spanish
Guidelines
Alamance County Public Libraries (ACPL) and Burlington Writers Club (BWC) invite you to
submit a poem for our Poetry Stroll 2025! We plan to exhibit submitted poems around the
county during National Poetry Month in April, as well as include them in an online poetry
stroll (accessible through the QR code on the posters).
Last year, ACPL displayed poems at around 67 locations in downtown Burlington, Graham,
Elon, Saxapahaw, Haw River, Green Level, and Mebane, and we’d like to reach even more
businesses this year. Submitted poems are printed and displayed on 11 x 17 inch posters,
and each business will showcase one (or more) poem(s) from the entries we receive.
We will not have the traditional 1st/2nd/3rd prizes, but we will have Reader’s Choice
Awards, voted on by everyone who visited the Poetry Stroll. Prizes will include gift cards,
books and library swag.
Poems must:
- be around 20 lines long (or up to 40 short lines that would fit in two columns);
- be submitted in MS Word or text format (.doc, .docx, .txt);
- be appropriate for all audiences, as these will be displayed in public – no curse words
- and no explicit sex or violence;
- be wholly original and written by the submitter, and not published anywhere else.
We welcome poetry from people of all ages and poetry in other languages (please submit a
translation alongside the entry). We will publish both on the poster, as space allows. If there
isn’t enough space, we will publish the poetry in the original language it was written.
We reserve the right to choose not to publish every work submitted to us if more poems are
submitted than we have space to display. Submit a maximum of two poems for this
contest. Submissions will not be returned to the owner; please don’t give us your only copy
of the poem! Authors retain all rights and copyright to their work.
For more information about this contest, contact Mary Beth Adams, Community
Engagement Librarian, at (336) 570-6981 or madams@alamancelibraries.org.