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Taking inspiration from World Migratory Bird Day, Poetry Takes Wing is a community-based exploration of the connections we have with nature. We seek submissions of poems by writers of all ages and backgrounds, referencing a bird or birds in some way and grounded in an ethos of conservation. Submissions in both English and Spanish are encouraged.
View the winners & finalists here.
Youth: Ages 12 and under
Teen: Ages 13 – 18
Emerging Adult Writer: Unpublished poets, ages 19 and above (self-published writers may select this category)
Published Adult Writer: Poets published in print and/or online, ages 19 and above
Up to three Honorable Mentions in each category receive:
One Winner in each category receives all Honorable Mention benefits stipulated, plus:
May 13, 2023 – Submissions open
August 15, 2023 – Submission period closes
More Information
Unpublished, original poems written in English or Spanish, in any style, including prose poems and song lyrics.
Simultaneous submission to other competitions should be noted: immediate notice upon winning such a competition is required.
At the top of the first page, please include the category in which you are submitting (Youth, Teen, Emerging Adult or Published Adult).
Title of the poem and the category should appear in the upper-right corner of each page.
Format poems in 12-point font size, Calibri, Arial, or Times New Roman font, as .doc or .docs or .pdf
Poems with more than 500 words will not be reviewed.
Unpublished, original poems written in English or Spanish, in any style, including prose poems and song lyrics.
Simultaneous submission to other competitions should be noted: immediate notice upon winning such a competition is required.
1. One poem per poet.
2. Poem must be submitter’s original work, unpublished in print or online.
3. Maximum length: 500 words.
4. Poem must reference a bird or birds in some way.
5. Format poems in 12-point font size, Calibri, Arial, or Times New Roman font, as .doc, .docx., or .pdf
6. Paginate when poems exceed one page.
7. No illustrations.
8. Online submissions only via this webpage’s upload instructions
9. Title of the poem and the category should appear in the upper-right corner of each page.
10. Poet’s name and contact information may not appear on the submitted document.
11. Poems may not be edited or re-submitted.
12. Winners will be notified in September 2023.
Current or former colleagues, employees, family members and close friends of the judges; and current or former employees and members of the board of Seneca Park Zoo Society or Writers & Books are ineligible.
If any of the selected Winners or Honorable Mentions fall under the above exclusions, they will be disqualified and a replacement chosen from among the finalists. As the poetry community is small and the contest is judged without knowledge of the submitter’s identity, mere acquaintance with the judges or participation in a workshop taught by them are not disqualifying criteria.
Panelists are experienced literary arts practitioners, including poets, authors, educators, librarians, arts administrators, and other relevant professionals.
Dr. Naamal De Silva is the Chief Diversity Officer at the American Bird Conservancy, and the founder of Mayla, which uses storytelling, partnerships, and events to celebrate and support the diversity of people who protect nature.
Earlier in her career, she spent nearly a decade at Conservation International, helping staff and partners to identify places and species in most urgent need of conservation. Naamal was born in Sri Lanka, and raised in Washington, DC, where she still resides.
Lilace Mellin Guignard’s poetry has appeared in Ecotone, and Poetry magazine, and is included in Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology (U of Georgia P, 2018). She is the author of the chapbook Young at the Time of Letting Go (Evening Street Press, 2016) and the adventure memoir, When Everything Beyond the Walls Is Wild: Being a Woman Outdoors in America (Texas A&M University Press, 2019).
She also wrote the Field Guide to the Norton Book of Nature Writing (2002). She is Associate Editor & Publisher of Mountain Home magazine and calls rural Pennsylvania home.
Alison Meyers is Executive Director of Writers & Books, a literary arts center in Rochester, NY. A veteran nonprofit leader, she previously led Cave Canem Foundation (Brooklyn, NY) as Executive Director, 2006-2016; served at Hill-Stead Museum (Farmington, CT) as Poetry Director and Director of Marketing & Communications, 2000-2006; and was General Manager of the Oberlin (OH) Consumers Co-op, a $2.9 million bookstore serving Oberlin College & Conservatory and surrounding communities (1995-1999).
For many years she owned and managed an independent bookstore in Connecticut. She consults, sits on panels, and presents widely; serves as a LitNYS mentor for New York State-based literary arts nonprofits; and is Treasurer of the Board of Kweli Journal. Alison is a Pushcart Prize‐nominated poet, fiction writer, and essayist whose work may be found in journals and anthologies and at www.alisonmeyers.com.
A 2022 MacArthur Genius Fellow, Dr. J. Drew Lanham is a conservation ornithologist and endowed faculty at Clemson University, where his work focuses on the intersections among race, place, and nature. He is the author of The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature and Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts.
His creative work and opinion appears in Orion, Vanity Fair, High Country News, Bitter Southerner, Terrain, Places Journal, Literary Hub, Newsweek, Slate, NPR, Story Corps, On Being, Audubon, Sierra Magazine, and The New York Times, among others. Dr. Lanham is the winner of the Dan W. Lufkin Conservation Award (National Audubon Society), Rosa Parks and Grace Lee Boggs Outstanding Service Award (North American Association for Environmental Education) and the E.O. Wilson Award for Outstanding Science in Biodiversity Conservation (Center for Biological Diversity).
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