PoeFest is celebrating its 13th year commemorating the works of Edgar Allan Poe, and you can be a part of it all at multiple locations throughout Phoenix, Arizona this October. PoeFest has been a labor of love for a decade. When PoeFest first opened, it did so to just six audience members. With a packed audience on the third night, they knew they had something special. The fest includes mainstage productions of Poe’s short stories every weekend during the month of October with Poe’s stories rotate nightly. PoeFest usually culminates on Halloween night with ‘The Raven’ at Rosson House Museum. But there’s something extra special about PoeFest that makes Bookmans honored to be a sponsor!

Here are the updated rules for 2021:

Short Story Contest
1. All Arizona students in 7th, 8th, and 9th grades for the 2021-2022 school year are eligible.
2. Home-schooled students are eligible.
3. Student authors must be residents of the State of Arizona.
4. Submission deadline is October 29th, 2021.
5. All short story submissions must be between 1,000 and 7,500 words.
6. Themes for short stories must stick to the genres of horror and/or mystery.
7. Stories must be original.
8. Authors retain all copyrights.
9. Revised previous submissions accepted.
10. Submissions can be made in electronic form (contest@poefest.org.) Word document or PDF formats only, please.
11. All submissions must include the email and phone number of a parent or guardian. All
authors must have the permission of a parent or guardian to participate.
12. All submissions must include the author’s name, birthdate, school, and grade for the 2021-
2022 school year. (Homeschooled students are welcome.)
13. One winner will be declared and notified via email and/or phone on October 1st, 2021.
Public Notification on social media pages will be posted after contact with winners.
14. All submissions will be adjudicated by a panel of judges.
15. Prize packages will be provided by Bookman’s Entertainment Exchange.
16. Winners are invited, with their parent’s permission, to record a video of them reading their
winning submission to be shared on the social media pages of Bookman’s Entertainment
Exchange, Arizona Curriculum Theater and PoeFest – A month of madness and terror.

Poetry Contest
1. All Arizona students in 7th, 8th, and 9th grades for the 2021-2022 school year are eligible.
2. Student authors must be residents of the State of Arizona.
3. Home-schooled students are eligible.
4. Submission deadline is October 29th, 2021.
5. All poetry submissions must be no more than 422 lines.
6. Themes for poems must stick to the genres of love, horror, and/or death.
5. Poems must be original.
8. Poets retain all copyrights.
9. Revised previous submissions accepted.
10. Submissions can be made in electronic form (contest@poefest.org.) Word document or PDF
file formats only, please.
11. All submissions must include the email and phone number of a parent or guardian. All
authors must have the permission of a parent or guardian to participate.
12. All submissions must include the poet’s name, birthdate, school, and grade for the 2021-
2022 school year.
13. All submissions will be adjudicated by a panel of judges.
14. One winner will be declared and notified via email on October 1st, 2021.
Public Notification on social media pages will be posted after contact with winners.
15. Prize packages will be provided by Bookman’s Entertainment Exchange.
16. Winners are invited, with their parent’s permission, to record a video of them reading their
winning submission to be shared on the social media pages of Bookman’s Entertainment
Exchange, Arizona Curriculum Theater and PoeFest – A month of madness and terror.

We can’t wait to see all of the submissions! If you have any questions, please contact MesaEvents@Bookmans.com. Happy writing everyone!