County residents over the age of 18, who have not previously earned the title, are invited to submit 10 original poems in any style to Bucks County Community College (BCCC) by the end of September.
The winner of the competition will receive a $500 honorarium, and a plaque from the county commissioners, and will be honored with a November reading and reception at BCCC with 2025 Poet Laureate Madeline Marriott and contest runners-up.
The Bucks County Poet Laureate program, which began in 1977, is the longest-running poet laureate contest in Pennsylvania. Administered by the College, the program also holds the Bucks County High School Poet of the Year contest every spring.
The poems entered will be read by a preliminary judge who will narrow the entries down, and a final judge, who will determine the winner and runners-up.
The preliminary judge will be Michelle Messina Reale, a poet, writer and professor at Arcadia University. She is the 2026 Poet Laureate of Montgomery County, the director of Arcadia University’s low-residency MFA program, and the author of several poetry collections including her latest, “Let it be Extravagant” (Bordighera Press, 2025). She is the founding and managing editor of both “OVUNQUE SIAMO: New Italian-American Writing” and “The Red Fern Review.”
The final judge will be Jeanne Marie Beaumont, the author of five books of poetry, including “Placebo Effects,” a winner of the National Poetry Series, and most recently “Lessons with Scissors.” She is coeditor of “The Poets’ Grimm” anthology and author of the verse play “Asylum Song.” She formerly served as director of the Frost Place Seminar and has taught at Rutgers University, the Stonecoast MFA program, and the 92nd St. Y. Born and raised in Delaware County, Pa., she has lived in New York City for over 40 years.
There is no fee to enter the Bucks County Poet Laureate contest. The deadline for submission is Friday, September 25 and the entry requires 10 poems, in any style, form, or length. All work must be original, published or unpublished, typewritten or word-processed, with one poem per page, in black ink.
Poems and entry form must be submitted online at: bucks.edu/poetlaureateentry
For more information, contact Dr. Ethel Rackin at ethel.rackin@bucks.edu.
