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The Hopwood Award Theodore Roethke Prize

The Hopwood Award Theodore Roethke Prize is an award for the best long poem or poetic sequence written by a University of Michigan student, undergraduate or graduate. 

Rules of Eligibility

This contest is open to all U-M students, with no particular course or hour requirements. There are the following restrictions:

  • There is a 12-page minimum length.
  • No student may enter more than one poem or poetic sequence.
  • The same poem shall not be entered in any contest with the exception of the Roy W. Cowden Memorial Fellowship competition. The Roethke submission may make up a part of the submission for the Hopwood Graduate or Undergraduate Poetry contest.
  • No poem that has won another award may be entered in these contests.
  • No student who has won this award may compete again in the contest, nor may a winning poem be subsequently entered in any other Hopwood Program contest, with the exception of fellowship/scholarship contests.
  • No poem that has been published in a medium other than a college or high school magazine or newspaper may be entered in the contest.

Manuscript

Entries should be in 10 or 12 point font, with a left-hand margin of at least 1 inch. A contestant must use a pen name - one that is entirely different from their real name. This name should only appear on the title page, nowhere else in the manuscript.  Submissions should be in PDF format. The PDF must have a title page on which shall appear: 

  • The title
  • The pen name
  • The contest and division entered (e.g., Hopwood Award Theodore Roethke Prize)

For further information, email hopwoodprogram@umich.edu.