PICKENS COUNTY — Celebrate National Poetry Month by entering the Pickens County Library System’s 8th annual Poetry Contest.

Entries will be accepted from March 1-31 at any Pickens County Library location or electronically at maryb@pickens.lib.sc.us.

Prizes will be awarded in three age categories: youth (up to age 11), teens (ages 12-18), and adults (ages 19 and up).

Submissions may be in any style.

“Once again, we will award an additional prize in honor of the late Dot Jackson: The Dot Jackson Memorial Prize,” said a spokesperson for the library. “Submissions for this prize are required to be in the narrative form.”

Published author and poet, Thomas L. Johnson, will select a winner from each category.

Winners will be announced and prizes will be given at an Awards Ceremony on Saturday, April 28 at 2 p.m. at the Hampton Memorial Library in Easley, they said.

Prizes include $50 cash, thanks to the Birchwood Center, an official sponsor of The Poetry Contest again this year.

But, as it is with any contest, there are rules …

Entries may be no longer than 36 lines of poetry on one 8.5 x 11 inch page and each entry must include the author’s name, age and contact information (phone number, mailing address and/or email address).

Entries missing information or received after March 31 will be removed from the contest, they said — so their not messing around.

Only one entry per person is permitted, with the exception of submitting for your age category, as well as the Dot Jackson Memorial Prize.

In that case, two separate submissions are permitted but poets have to indicate which entry is intended for the Dot Jackson category.

For more information, please call the library at 864-850-7077.

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Annual poetry contest returns

Staff report