Enter | Town is sponsoring Poetry Gardens contest

||| FROM JULIE GREENE for TOWN OF FRIDAY HARBOR |||

San Juan County residents of all ages are encouraged to submit your best original poems to the 2026 POETRY GARDENS CONTEST. Winning entries will be displayed in the town’s four Poetry Gardens! Deadline for submission: July 31, 2026.

Guidelines for submission 

• Author must be a resident of San Juan County, WA.
• Poems must be your original work with no AI assistance. Poems may have been previously published.
• Any form of poetry will be accepted (e.g., free verse, prose, rhyme, haiku, lyric).
• Short poems are encouraged. Maximum 20 lines, 10 words per line.
• Poems must be appropriate for display in a public space for viewing by all ages.
• Up to five entries are allowed, but no more than two poems per author may be
  selected. There is no submission fee.

Submissions must include

• A cover letter listing titles of poems and the author’s name, email address, mailing address, phone number, and grade (if in school)
• Two copies of each poem typed on 81⁄2 x 11-inch paper in 12 pt. font.
• Name of author must not appear on the same page as the poem.
• Deliver or mail submissions to arrive by July 31, 2026:
  Poetry Garden Contest c/o Town of Friday Harbor
  60 Second St S / PO Box 219, Friday Harbor, WA 98250

Sponsored by the Town of Friday Harbor and the Friday Harbor Arts Commission By submitting poetry, contest winners agree to public display and publication of their work. The 30 winning entries will be announced in October 2026. Selected poems will be professionally engraved on plaques and displayed for three years in one of four gardens located in the town. Winning authors will receive a book of the winning poems; a limited number of additional copies will be available for the public. Questions may be directed to julie@fridayharbor.org.