Description
A professor of humanities in the College of Engineering, Roger M. Jones was dedicated to teaching his students the profound human value of literature, and poetry in particular. Supported by a memorial fund, the Roger M. Jones Poetry Contest was established by Professor Jones’ colleagues in 1977 to honor his memory and his commitment to teaching engineering students about poetry. The contest encourages engineering students to write poetry and to experience the pleasure of using their creative imaginations to speak to others.
Eligibility
- All Engineering undergraduates who will have been enrolled for at least one term between January 2023 and January 2024 are eligible.
- Students may not submit entries which have won a prior year’s Cooley Writing Prize or Jones’ contest award; written material may not be submitted for more than one contest.
- Students may not submit collaborations or translations.
- If an entry receives a Jones’ contest award, the author agrees to authorize the College of Engineering to use, free of charge, the author’s name and all or part of the author’s poems in future print or electronic publications.
How to Enter
- You are encouraged to submit at least three (3) poems, but no more than five (5).
- Create a fictitious name for yourself. This name will appear on all of your poems during judging.
- Prepare three (3) to five (5) poems in Microsoft Word (*.doc or *.docx) as follows:
- Create one Word document for each poem. Save each document with the naming convention, “FictitiousName_Poem#.doc”.
- Format all documents with 1 inch margins, headers, and footers.
- Format all text in 12 point Times New Roman font.
- Place your fictitious name in the upper right corner of the header to appear on each page.
- Include page numbers in the lower right corner of the footer to appear on each page.
- Include the poem’s title in bold as the first line of the first page, followed by a single space, and then your poem.
- Complete the online application.
- Attach your poems with your online application.
Deadline
11:59 pm on Sunday, January 7, 2024. Late entries will not be accepted. You will notified regarding poetry contest decisions via in early April 2024.
Awards
Between $10,000 and $15,000 in prizes is awarded annually.
Information
For further information, please contact April Hays by phone at (734) 647-7155 or by email at [email protected].
Disclaimer
All decisions by the judges are final. They reserve the right not to award prizes in a given year if poetry submissions fail to meet the contest’s high standards for excellence.