2025 Poetic Excellence

Award-Winners

Zachariah Andrew King of Landisburg, Perry County, has been named our 2024 Perry County Poet Laureate for his poem The Perry County Waltz.

Entry Guidelines

The following information is ALSO available in a PDF by clicking the “Guidelines & Printable Form” button above.

All entries must reach Perry County Council of the Arts or be postmarked by June 11, 2025
Standard RATE Entry Fee: $5 per page.

Student RATE Entry Fee: $3 per page. 

Entry Qualifications:

• Anyone may enter the contest; however, only Perry County residents will be eligible for the title of Perry County
  Poet Laureate.
• All entries must be the original work of the contestant.
• Poems that have won prizes elsewhere may not be submitted to this contest.
• Poems that are currently entered into other competitions may not be submitted.
• Open to all ages.

Format:

• Poems may be free or formal verse.
• Poems may represent any subject.
• Up to three pages (8 1/2” x 11”) total, may be submitted.
  • May submit (3) one-page poems
  • (1) two-page poem and (1) one-page poem
  • or (1) three-page poem.
• Poems must be typed on unlined white paper. Handwritten poems will be disqualified.
• DO NOT type or write your name on the same sheet as your poem.

Include with your entry a typed personal information sheet with the following:

• Your name, address, phone number and e-mail address, if available.
• The title and first line of each poem you have entered.
• Be sure to keep copies of your poems. Entries will not be returned.

Two ways to submit entries:

• Mail entries to Poetic Excellence Awards, PCCA, PO Box 354, Newport, PA­ 17074. Please make checks payable to PCCA.
• Submit entries and fees online at org/poetic-excellence-awards

Prizes:

• Perry County Poet Laureate 2025: This title is bestowed only on a resident of Perry County. This honor includes a certificate signed by the Perry County Commissioners, and a cash prize of $250. The Poet Laureate will be a featured reader/speaker at various county and PCCA events throughout the year of reign and will carry an ambassadorial mantle of responsibility to promote and enhance the literary arts in Perry County.
• 1st Prize: $100 and personalized certificate
• 2nd Prize: $50 and personalized certificate
• 3rd Prize: $25 and personalized certificate
• Siggy David Award: $25 and personalized certificate. This category has been established in honor of a long-time friend and PCCA member writer Siggy David in recognition of his many contributions to the literary scene in our community. Entries competing for this award should follow the regular guidelines AND be written in any form with the theme of “Perseverance.” Please designate entries for this award by typing “SIGGY DAVID AWARD” above the title.

Perry County Council of the Arts reserves the right to publish any of the winning entries in perpetuity, in any of its various publications and/or promotional materials, without payment to the author(s). Perry County Council of the Arts agrees to credit the author(s) with every use. The author(s) retains the right to publish the winning entry or submit it for competition elsewhere (in accordance with other contest guidelines). Entry in this contest (The 27th Annual PCCA Awards for Poetic Excellence) constitutes agreement on the part of the author(s) to these terms.

In clockwise order: Zachariah Andrew King – 2024 Perry County Poet Laureate. Perry County Commissioner Frank Campbell presenting award to Zach King. The Writer’s Nook at Little Buffalo Festival. 2024 1st Place Poetic Excellence Winner, Deborah Reed Filanowski with PCCA Community Engagement Coordinator Ariana Koch. 2023 Poet Laureate and 2024 2nd and 3rd Place Winner, Lynne Reeder.

2024 Poetic Excellence

Award-Winners

In clockwise order: Zachariah Andrew King – 2024 Perry County Poet Laureate. Perry County Commissioner Frank Campbell presenting award to Zach King. The Writer’s Nook at Little Buffalo Festival. 2024 1st Place Poetic Excellence Winner, Deborah Reed Filanowski with PCCA Community Engagement Coordinator Ariana Koch. 2023 Poet Laureate and 2024 2nd and 3rd Place Winner, Lynne Reeder.

Zachariah Andrew King of Landisburg, Perry County, has been named our 2024 Perry County Poet Laureate for his poem The Perry County Waltz.

Alane Balchunas, Perspective

Deborah Reed Filanowski, Deer in the Headlights

Lynne Reeder, american classic

Lynne Reeder, the vapor and the dusk

Tina Berrier, The Sutras

Lizzie Boyer, She Sings the Sea

Ellie Cameron, Snakebite

Christine O’Leary Rockey is a celebrated author, teacher, artist, and poet. Her work weaves the mystical and the oppressed into a fluid awareness, drawing readers into shadows while chasing the light. As a poet, she creates with shape, color, and time, using words as her medium to give form to ideas and experiences. Her artistry extends beyond poetry, incorporating those ideas and experiences into a physical aesthetic. Christine’s exploration of the soul of the world through her art, poetry, and writing invites us to contemplate wisdom and seek great truths in the world we inhabit.

Our prizes include First, Second, Third, Honorable Mention, and the Siggy David Award for poems written in any form with the theme of “Divine,” chosen by last year’s SDA Award winner Ellie Cameron. Perry County residents will be eligible for the title of Perry County Poet Laureate.

2023 Poetic Excellence

Award-Winners

Lynne Reeder, was named 2023’s Perry County Poet Laureate for her poem “retrograde.”

Click photo to enlarge text.

Ellie Cameron, “Slingshot Me Into the Stars” 

Click photo to enlarge text.

First Place
Lynne Reeder, “mythkeeper”

Click photo to enlarge text.

Second Place
Brooke Mitchell, “Visiting Home”

Click photo to enlarge text.

Third Place
Louie Land, “Renga for the Palouse”

Click photo to enlarge text.

Honorable Mention
Ellie Cameron, “notes from behind the TV screen”

Click photo to enlarge text.

Jessica Nirvana Ram is an Indo-Guyanese poet and essayist. She earned her MFA from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and her BA from Susquehanna University. Her work appears in Hayden’s Ferry Review, No Contact Mag, HAD, among others. Her full-length collection EARTHLY GODS is forthcoming with Variant Lit in 2024.

Our prizes include First, Second, Third, Honorable Mention, and the Siggy David Award for poems written in any form with the theme of “Rebirth,” chosen by last year’s SDA Award winner Eydie Wight. Perry County residents will be eligible for the title of Perry County Poet Laureate.

Buddy Boy Winery, 111 Barnett Drive, Duncannon

Join us as we honor the award-winning poets from this year’s annual poetry competition and for the presentation of the 2021 Perry County Poet Laureate. Stick around for Coffeehouse Open Mic following the awards ceremony! Grab a bite to eat and a glass of wine from Buddy Boy and enjoy poetry readings, live music and more! No outside food/drink please.

Interested in performing during open mic? Contact us at 717-567-7023 or pcca@perrycountyarts.org.