Held annually in loving memory of HoCoPoLitSo’s co-founder, the 2024 Ellen Conroy Kennedy Poetry Prize is now open to all entrants! Whether you are a life-time poet or have never written a line before, we invite you to share with us whatever moves you to poetry.
The author of the poem selected for first place will be awarded a cash prize of $500, celebrated on HoCoPoLitSo’s website, social media, and in our annual report— and have their winning poem published in The Little Patuxent Review and right here on HoCoPoLitSo’s front page.
To enter, click here, or visit the contest’s page to learn more or to read past winners’ poems. A reading fee of $10 per entrant supports a panel of fair and balanced judges.
HoCoPoLitSo 
How many entries to the poetry contest is allowed for each writer? Thank you!
Hi Margo, thank you for your interest in the Ellen Conroy Kennedy Poetry Prize! To your question, each entry can be up to 60 lines, or 3 pages; entrants are welcome to include multiple short-form poems that fit within that limit, so long as all submissions are the entrant’s own, unpublished work. A single poem will be selected as winner. The $10 fee per entry supports the recruitment of an independent panel of reviewers; if an entrant should want to submit multiple entries, that is permissible by completing the entry form again.