Eligibility

Previous entrants in TMA’s poetry contest, including finalists and winners, are welcome to participate with fresh material.

• Residents of Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan are invited to participate. 

  • Eligible counties of residence include Allen, Auglaize, Defiance, Erie, Fulton, Hancock, Henry, Hillsdale, Huron, Lenawee, Lucas, Monroe, Ottawa, Paulding, Putnam, Sandusky, Seneca, Washtenaw, Wayne, Williams, Wood, and Wyandot. 

• The contest for the Youth category is open to youth ages 11-17. 

• The contest for the Adult category is open to adults 18+. 

Toledo Museum of Art employees and volunteers are not eligible to enter.

Submission Guidelines

• Entries must be submitted no later than 4:00p.m. ET on March 12, 2025

• You may only submit one poem for entry

• Your poem must be inspired by one of the pre-selected artworks in the TMA’s collection

• Your poem may contain up to 25 lines, or 300 words if prose

• Do not type your name on any page of your submission; your name should only appear on the entry form

• Your poem must be formatted as a Microsoft Word doc or PDF. Use 12-point Times New Roman font. All pages of your word doc or pdf file should include: 

  • The title of your poem.  

  • The artist of the artwork that inspired your entry. 

  • Save the word doc or pdf file as title of your work_artist of artwork. For example: A Poem For Her_Rachel Ruysch *Failure to format entries as instructed may disqualify your entry

To be considered, all submissions must be suitable for public consumption. Winning writers will be notified via email. A reading, awards ceremony, and reception will take place in the Glass Pavilion on Saturday, May 10th, at 2:00–3:00p.m. Prizes will be available for pick up if contest winners are not present. 

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at poetryprize@toledomuseum.org.

The TMA Reference Library provides public computers for submitting your poetry entry. For information on their hours of operation, please visit their website below

Awards

Entries will be divided into two groups: Youth (ages 11-17) and Adult (18 and older). There will be one first place, one second place, one third place, and up to one honorable mention in each group.      

2025 Dates + Events

Please select from below one of the eligible artworks that will inspire your unique and unpublished poem.

A panel of judges will review and rank each entry based on originality, form, language, grammatical skill, and the creative interpretation or reflection of writing. Judges reserve the right to not grant an award if they feel no submission merits an award. 

• A native Toledoan, Sandra Rivers-Gill is a teaching artist, poet, performance and mixed media artist, and author of a debut poetry chapbook, As We Cover Ourselves With Light (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, 2023), a 2024 Eric Hoffer Book Award Category Finalist; as well as editor of Dopeless Hope Fiends (Radio Room Press, 2018). Her poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies and has received numerous awards including nominations for Best of the Net and a Pushcart Prize. She teaches poetry workshops in the community, having served residences through Creative Aging Ohio (Ohio Art Council), Otterbein Sunset House Senior Life Communities, and Naomi Inc. She also serves as an inaugural Poet Ambassador of Northwest Ohio for the Ohio Poetry Association.
  

• Timothy Geiger is the author of the poetry collections, In a Field of Hallowed Be, (Terrapin Books, 2024), Weatherbox, (winner of the 2019 Vern Rutsala Poetry Prize from Cloudbank Books), The Curse of Pheromones. (Main Street Rag, 2008) and Blue Light Factory (Spoon River Poetry Press, 1999). He is also the author of ten chapbooks, most recently Holler (APoGee Press, 2020). His honors include a Pushcart Prize XVII; a Holt, Rinehart and Winston Award in Literature; and many state and local grants. He is the proprietor of Aureole Press, a letter-press imprint producing chapbooks of contemporary poetry at the University of Toledo, where he teaches creative writing, poetry, and book arts. He lives on a small farmstead in Swanton, Ohio, with his wife and all their animals.

• Kerry Trautman is a lifelong Northwest-Ohioan and a graduate of Saint Ursula Academy and the University of Toledo. She has participated in local events such as Artomatic 4-1-9, Momentum Festival, Ode to the Zip Code, 100-Thousand Poets for Change, and Back to Jack. In 2024 her one-act play “Mass” was one of the winners of The Toledo Repertoire Theater’s “Toledo Voices” competition. She has served as judge or workshop leader for the Northwest region of Ohio’s “Poetry Out Loud” competition annually since 2016. Kerry has conducted poetry workshops with students--from preschool through high school--and presented workshops at events such as BGSU's Winter Wheat Festival of Writing, and the National Federation of State Poetry Societies’ conference. She has published hundreds of poems and short stories in international literary journals and anthologies, earning nominations for The Pushcart Prize and Best-of-the-Net, and she has published a novella and seven books of poetry.

We will offer an optional poetry writing workshop for Adults at the Toledo Museum of Art on February 8, 2025 and February 22, 2025 at 2:00pm. This is a 60-minute poetry workshop designed for adults. Let the art of the word inspire you to write a poem in response to a work of art. This 60-minute poetry workshop is led by Lucas County Poet Laureate, Jonie McIntire. Paper and pencils will be provided but you are welcome to bring your own supplies (journal, paper, pencil, or laptop). No prior experience is necessary to participate.

Registration is required as space is limited to 15 participants.
FREE with pre-registration.

You do not need to take a workshop to enter the contest.

Adult Workshop Poet

• Jonie McIntire, Poet Laureate of Lucas County, Ohio, has authored three chapbooks, including Semidomesticated (rereleased through Sheila-Na-Gig Editions in 2022), which won Red Flag Poetry’s 2020 chapbook contest. She is poetry editor at Of Rust and Glass and Membership Chair at Ohio Poetry Association. McIntire hosts Uncloistered Poetry from Toledo, Ohio. Learn about her at https://www.joniemcintire.net.

Additionally, we offer ekphrastic writing tours for school groups. Enhance creative and critical thinking skills by writing poems in response to works of art. Tour and writing activities are 45 minutes each. Students are encouraged to continue the writing and editing in class and submit their completed writing to the annual Poetry Prize Competition. Click below to schedule a visit.

Congratulations to the 2024 winners of Discover, Inspire, Create: TMA Poetry Prize. Each selection bridges the realms of art and literature.