Contest Rules
- Open to all students from Kindergarten through 12th grade. No geographic restriction — any student may enter.
- Any form of poem is accepted — free verse, haiku, sonnet, spoken word, bilingual, or any style you choose.
- Three submission categories: Elementary School, Middle School, and High School.
- For complete contest rules, view the full Event Rules document.
- Download the 2026 Flyer in English & Spanish.
Submissions
Submissions closed on March 29, 2026.
Thank you to everyone who submitted — we received a record number of poems this year! Winners will be announced at the April 2026 ceremony.
Want to be notified about the 2027 contest?
✉️ Join the Mailing List for Next YearAward Ceremony
🎉 Watch this space — details on the 2026 Award Ceremony are coming soon!
Meet the 2026 Judges
We are immensely grateful to our esteemed judges for their time and thoughtful feedback. They are active members of our community and well-published poets.
Aileen Cassinetto
Poet, Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow
Aileen Cassinetto is an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow and San Mateo County Poet Laureate Emerita. The co-founder of Paloma Press, she is also co-editor of Dear Human at the Edge of Time: Poems on Climate Change in the United States (2023), a companion to the congressionally mandated Fifth National Climate Assessment, and The Nature of Our Times: Poems on America's Lands, Waters, Wildlife, and Other Natural Wonders (2025), a Poets for Science anthology.
Learn more about Aileen →Tom Diggs
Crystal Springs Uplands School, English Teacher
Tom Diggs is the author of fiction, plays, and musicals. His novel ROM-COM FOR DUMMIES was published by NineStar Press. His play FAIR AND DECENT was developed by the Kennedy Center and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2008. When he's not working on his own writing, he enjoys teaching middle schoolers to write at Crystal Springs Uplands School. Outside of the world of letters, he bakes, bikes, and keeps up with the latest technology. A lifelong learner, he attended Brown University, the University of Washington, and NYU/Tisch. He currently spends his time between San Francisco and Santa Fe and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.
Learn more about Tom →Marisa Galvez
Director, Stanford Center of Poetics; Professor of French and Italian, Professor by courtesy of German Studies and of Comparative Literature, Stanford University
Marisa Galvez specializes in the literature of the Middle Ages in France and Western Europe, especially the poetry and narrative literature written in Occitan and Old French. Her first book, Songbook: How Lyrics Became Poetry in Medieval Europe (University of Chicago Press, 2012), treats how vernacular songbooks of the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries shaped our modern understanding of poetry — and won the John Nicholas Brown Prize from the Medieval Academy of America.
Learn more about Marisa →Jackson Holbert
Jones Lecturer & Former Wallace Stegner Fellow, Stanford University
Jackson is the author of Winter Stranger, winner of the 2022 Max Ritvo Poetry Prize. He earned his MFA at the Michener Center for Writers and is currently affiliated with Stanford's creative writing program.
Learn more about Jackson →Prizes
Watch this space for details of the Prize Ceremony to be held in April 2026.
- $150 High School Winner
- $120 Middle School Winner
- $75 Elementary School Winner
Disclaimer: Prize money sourced from the local community.
Hosted By
The 2026 contest is proudly co-hosted by the Atherton Library and the San Mateo Daily Journal.
Additional Information
Questions? Contact [email protected].