We’re getting down to the wire! There is one week left to submit your poem about Niagara Falls to the Niagara Falls Poetry Project 25th Anniversary Poetry Contest!!
The judges have sharpened their pencils and are eagerly awaiting reading the submissions!
The curator is feverishly working at getting all of the submission ready for the print anthology of the winners and contestants that will hopefully be available later this year.
Welcome to the Niagara Falls Poetry Project 25th Anniversary Poetry Competition, a juried competition with poems in any form, on the theme of Niagara Falls, (the waterfalls and/or the two cities), with a special award for the poem that best exemplifies the “Spirit of Niagara Falls.” Poems will be added to the website, and published in an anthology of Niagara poetry.
There will be a first place prize of $200, a second place prize of $100, and a third place prize of $50. In addition there will be a $200 prize for the the poem that best exemplifies the “Spirit of Niagara Falls.”
Niagara Falls Poetry Contest Rules
Theme:
Niagara Falls (waterfalls & 2 cities) & Niagara River
Poems can be descriptive, philosophical, spiritual, historical, personal, or anything else as long as there is some connection to Niagara Falls, and not just a casual mention (see the NFPP website at https://niagarapoetry.ca to see the range of poetry accepted).
There will be a first prize winner of $200, a second prize winner of $100, and a third prize winner of $50
In addition, there will be a $200 prize for the poem that best captures the Spirit of Niagara Falls
Format:
No AI generated poems
Any poetical form accepted
Maximum 100 lines
English language or translation – judging will be on the English language translation, not the original language
May be previously published or already on the NFPP site
$5 entry fee, covers a maximum of 3 poems
No gratuitous sex, violence, racism, or hate speech
Judges may not submit a poem to the contest, but will get a free entry on the website & in the anthology, and a free copy of the anthology
How to submit:
Submit in both a standard editing format and as a .pdf
Include a cover page with name, contact information, title, and biography, with an optional head shot (300 dpi minimum)
No identifying information on poem page
Optional Include an image illustrating the poem (min 300 dpi, 600 preferred, jpg), your copyright, copyright free, or from a place copyright can easily be obtained.
Submit payment through etransfer (preferred) or PayPal to poetrycontest@niagarapoetry.ca with message “Contest entry for [Your Name]”
Once submitted the poem cannot be changed
Contest closes at 11:59 pm August 15, 2026 (Eastern Daylight Time)
By entering the contest you:
Agree to have your poem published on the NFPP website & in the 25th anniversary anthology, at the NFPP curator’s discretion (Not all entries will necessarily be published online or in the print anthology)
Receive a 15% discount when ordering the print anthology
Interior of a Headstone Manufacturing Factory, Believed to be Rigg Brothers Monuments on Queen Street , Niagara Falls, ON. Image courtesy of Petrie Collection, Niagara Falls (Ontario) Public Library
Jenny started to know
the passing faces of nightshift
who said, “You go, girl”
better than friends and family
that first summer of mismatched hours
as whispers breezed the mill
about ‘kids abandoned at day-care,
partner on the juice’
turned to soft winds of divorce
under-heard in the salt machinery
of the factory cafeteria.
On the floor, she kept her broom
between the yellow lines, even when steam
screamed from a torn gasket
’til she spotted Bob’s silver mane
along the carton line, roaring
his shit at someone’s ear-muffed head.
“Wipe yourself when you’re done,
prick. Or, see that machine over there?
I’ll drive it so far up your ass
It’ll clean your moustache.”
The girls on the line keeled
and reeled like feeding gulls.
Source: John B. Lee (comp.) Arborealis: A Canadian Poetry Anthology, 2018. Toronto: The Ontario Poetry Society, 2018.
Crewed was a winner of the Judge’s Choice award of the Ontario Poetry Society contest. Inman’s poem Figure Eights won the first prize, his poem Rock Paper Scissors won the third prize, and his poem Rallyalso won a Judge’s Choice award in the same contest.
Declared a ‘people’s poet’ by John B. Lee and Dr. Elspeth Cameron, for his blue collar style, Inman’s work has earned him a variety of grants and contest awards. A first chapbook, Hanging on a Nail, with two other Niagara Poets at Sigilate Press, sold over 500 copies. And a first Trade book, The War Poems: Screaming at Heaven from Black Moss Press, received a review from Canlit #223, who compared his work with Atwood and Itani. Keith lives and writes in Niagara.
