Welcome to the first annual Columbia Granger's World of Poetry® "Back to School" Fall poetry contest. Columbia University Press celebrates the start of a new school year by hosting a new poetry contest for college undergraduates only starting October 1st, 2023. We encourage you to celebrate the wonderful world of poetry by exploring the incredible Granger's resource and spreading the word to your students about our contest.


- send your submissions to hp2356@columbia.edu

- the submission deadline is Tuesday, October 31st 2023

- the contest is open to college undergraduates only.

- students must use Granger's to find a poem that inspires an original piece

- students must state clearly at the top of their submission: "my poem was inspired by (poem title) by (poet)"

- all submissions must be original pieces. Any submissions that demonstrate plagiarism will be excluded

- submissions should be no longer than 30 lines total (not including line breaks)

- all submissions will be judged by staff of Columbia University Press

- prizes will be awarded to 3 students

- prizes will be $100 worth of CUP books for each winning student (chosen by the student)

- winners will be announced and will have their poems published on Granger's on November 8th through November 10th and an honorable mention poem on Monday, November 13th.