15th Annual Poet’s Seat Poetry Contest

Calling all Franklin County Poets!

The Friends of the Greenfield Public Library is pleased to announce the 15th Annual Poet’s Seat Poetry Contest. The contest is open to all Franklin County residents. Contestants may submit up to three unpublished poems (previous winners are ineligible).

Awards will be given in three categories: first, second and third place in the adult division and the four top poems in each of the youth divisions - ages 12-14 and 15-18. Entries should be typed or clearly printed in black ink, with the name, address, phone number and e-mail (if applicable) on the reverse side of the poems. Young poets should write their age in the lower right hand corner, circled.

The deadline for entries is March 16, 2006.

An awards ceremony and poetry reading will take place on April 27th in honor of National Poetry Month.

Poems should be mailed to:

Poet’s Seat Poetry Contest
Greenfield Public Library
402 Main St.
Greenfield MA 01301

The adult first prize winner will receive stewardship of the Poet’s Seat chair, with their name on a plaque listing all the previous winners, as well as a handcrafted Poet’s Platter and a gift certificate to a local bookstore. All other winners will receive a handcrafted Poet’s mug along with a gift certificate to a local bookstore.

The Poet's Seat Poetry Contest has been sponsored by the Friends of the Greenfield Public Library annually since 1990. The competition is held in honor of Frederick Goddard Tuckerman who resided in Greenfield from 1847 until his death in 1873 and was considered by his contemporaries -- Emerson, Thoreau, and Tennyson -- to be a gifted poet. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he shunned law in favor of botany and writing poetry. Although he never achieved wide public acclaim, his poems are often included in anthologies of noted American poets.