Bliss Morehead Poetry Grant Contest Is Taking Submissions
East End poets get ready! The third annual Bliss Morehead Poetry Grant has been announced, again offering $1,000 this April to a poetry competition winner who is unpublished, at least 17 years old and lives on the East End of Long Island (including Riverhead and points east on both forks).
This year’s competition will be judged by Irene Cornell, Charity Robey and Virginia Walker.
A student of poetry, and as a gifted poet herself, Bliss Morehead was a resident of Shelter Island who dedicated much of her life to the art of poetry. She sought to share “this most complex of cultural achievements” with all who would listen.
Morehead was the founder and curator of the Shelter Island Poetry Project which produced the annual April Poetry Month readings at the Shelter Island Library. As the curator of the Poetry Project, she called upon poets and readers of poetry to present carefully selected poems revolving around yearly themes.
The theme for 2024’s competition is “Hope and Grace.”
Morehead wrote tirelessly about what she called “the frustrating and occasionally illuminating work we all take upon ourselves when we are snatched up by the demanding nanny/muse and forced to admit that yes — we are poets. Or are attempting to be poets.”
The contest organizers say, “It is our hope that the grant will encourage those of you who have taken up the challenge of writing poetry to share with us your creations.”
Anyone interested in applying for this grant, must register on the Shelter Island Library website or contact Jocelyn Ozolins at jozolins@silibrary.org to receive an application and guidelines.
The deadline for contest entries is Friday, March 15. The winner and runners-up will be announced on April 5 and will be invited to a poetry reading at the library on April 26.
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