Poetry Prizes

Exciting news, and years in the making! For our first annual festival Poetry Prizes, besides the awards described below, all are invited to submit their own original poem generally inspired by Cohen's creative themes of Life, Love, and Eternity, for which all participants will receive by email a printable pdf Certificate of Honor from the festival. 
 
Please submit your poem in the form below or via email to cohenfestpoetry@gmail.com by Wed., Nov. 3rd,11:59pm PDT, 3 pages max; prior publication allowed (and if so, please disclose it for proper acknowledgement). All participants become Honorees, plus please note your age category (as follows) because 3 Poetry Prizes will be selected by a jury of experienced poets, one winner in each of these age categories: Youth Poet (up to and including age 18), Emerging Poet (age 19-30), and Adult Poet (age 31+). 
 
Organizers and hosts of the festival and their immediate families are ineligible to win but are encouraged to participate as Honorees. By regulations, the Youth Prize must exclude cash awards so other gifts and bookstore certificates will be substituted, and any winning minor under 18 must also list an adult contact for consent. The other two category winners, Emerging Poet and Adult Poet, will each receive a prize of $100 (kindly donated by an anonymous poet). All 3 prize-winning poems, with those poets' consent, will be presented onstage at the festival performance on Nov. 6th, 2026, and the prize winners will be invited to appear and accept their prizes in person if they wish.
 
We hope everyone will enjoy this collaboratively in the great spirit of Leonard Cohen and of Poetry, which we always all write together.