Hot Poetry Contest Guidelines

  1. You must be a student enrolled in a school in the United States to participate. 

  2. Poetry must be on the topic of nuclear weapons waste. More information here and here.

  3. Poetry may be any form or language, as long as an English translation is provided.

  4. Submit your poem anytime between Feb 4 - April 30, 2025 via this form. Name, age, email, phone, school, and mailing address required with submission. Permission form is required for students under 18 years old. Your identifying information will not be shared with anyone outside of Hanford Challenge. 

  5. One submission per student.

  6. Poems may be selected for posting on social media and the Hanford Challenge webpage throughout the contest.

  7. Cash prizes for at least one and up to 5 winners. Winners announced in May 2025.

  8. Contest will follow the CLMP code of ethics.

  9. Poems will be judged “blind.” Our judge will only be reviewing the submitted poem and will not have access to identifying information about the contestant.

  10. By submitting a poem to our contest, you accept that your poem may appear online and in print with your name and school. We reserve the right to publish or not publish a poem for any reason.

We are excited to announce that Sierra Nelson is our contest judge!

Sierra Nelson is a poet, lyric essayist, and multimedia performance artist, with an MFA in Poetry from University of Washington. Nelson’s poetry books include The Lachrymose Report (PoetryNW Editions) and I Take Back the Sponge Cake collaborating with visual artist Loren Erdrich (Rose Metal Press), and she is editor of Three Hearts: An Anthology of Cephalopod Poetry (World Enough Writers). A MacDowell Colony Fellow, Jack Straw Writers Fellow, and Carolyn Kizer Prize winner, Nelson has published work in anthologies and journals including Cascadia Field Guide, I Sing the Salmon Home, WA 129, as well as work featured on King County Metro buses, at the Seattle Aquarium, the Slovenian Natural History Museum, and with Nordic runes on lava stones at the SÍM Gallery in Iceland. Recently a Youth Community Liaison for 4Culture's Poetry in Public program, Sierra works with both youth and adults teaching poetry in diverse settings including schools, hospitals, universities, and libraries, through Writers in the Schools (WITS), Hugo House, Centrum, University of Washington, and beyond.

Get inspired to write by checking out Sierra Nelson’s published books and poems posted on her website.

If you’re looking for additional inspiration, Sierra writes, “Some of my favorite poets are Elizabeth Bishop, Joy Harjo, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Donika Kelly, Elizabeth Bradfield, Adrienne Rich, Marrianne Moore. (And the poems and advice from the previous judges are a remarkable resource of inspiration as well, including: Kathleen Flenniken, Rena Priest, and Laua Da'.)”

Sierra Shares the following advice for anyone writing for this contest: 

Check out these examples of poetic forms to get you started!

 
 

You can find other Nuclear Waste Scholar Series talks here. Click here to see the 2024 poetry contest winners & click here to see the 2023 winners!