Sixteen years ago, PoeFest opened with just six audience members. By the third night it was packed and they knew they had something special. PoeFest has been a labor of love for more than a decade now helping to turn this little Edgar Allan Poe Festival into the biggest and best in the country.

PoeFest also includes the Student Writing Competition sponsored by Bookmans Entertainment Exchange. Students in grades 7 to 9 compete in poetry and short story contests judged by a panel of experts. The festival comes to a close with a grand finale on Halloween Night featuring performances of ‘The Raven’ every twenty minutes at the historic Rosson House Museum in Heritage Square, Downtown Phoenix.

PoeFest Student Writing Competition sponsored by Bookmans

Each year, ACT Inc. and PoeFest, in partnership with Bookmans, hold a Student Writing Competition open to all Arizona students in grades 7, 8, and 9. Bookmans is pleased to sponsor this competition and provide great prizes to the student winners. The updated rules for 2024:

STUDENT WRITING COMPETITION

Short Story Contest

  1. All Arizona students in 7th, 8th, and 9th grades for the 2024-2025 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 Midnight October 29, 2024.
  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 2024-2025 school year. (Home schooled students are welcome.) 
  13. One winner will be declared and notified via email and/or phone on October 31st, 2024.
  14. Public Notification on social media pages will be posted after contact with winners. Initials of winners will be posted and the city they are from.
  15. All submissions will be adjudicated by a panel of judges.
  16. Prize packages will be provided by Bookman’s Entertainment Exchange.

Poetry Contest

  1. All Arizona students in 7th, 8th, and 9th grades for the 2024-2025 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 Midnight October 29th, 2024.
  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.
  7. 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 2024-2025 school year.
  13. One winner will be declared and notified via email and/or phone on October 31st, 2024.
  14. Public Notification on social media pages will be posted after contact with winners. Initials of winners will be posted and the city they are from.
  15. All submissions will be adjudicated by a panel of judges
  16. Prize packages will be provided by Bookman’s Entertainment Exchange.