Deadline: February 1st 

This contest is free and open to the public. 

Poems may also win Honorable Mention awards.

Winners will be notified by email in March. 

Awardees will be invited to virtually join a workshop by our distinguished featured poet and will be recognized at the 49th Annual Gannon Writing Awards ceremony. He or she will receive a monetary award of $50, a book by our featured poet, and publication in the Awards Night program and in the award-winning literary magazine, Totem.

First Place: $100

Second Place: $75

Third Place: $50

Berwyn Moore Young Erie Poet Award (for high school poets residing in Erie County): $50

For questions, please contact Dr. Clayton Bradshaw-Mittal at highschoolpoetry@gannon.edu 

Rules and Eligibility

Entrants must be a high school student or a home-schooled student in grades nine through twelve. Students from anywhere in the United States  may enter.

Poems may be in rhyme, free verse, Haiku or other accepted poetry forms and of any length, up to a maximum of 40 lines. 

No entry may have been previously published.

Winners receiving a monetary award will be required to complete a W-9 form to receive their prize.

Results will be published on our website during the first week of April. Only the winners will receive individual notifications.

Submission Guidelines

Each student may submit 1 or 2 single-authored original poems as attachment(s) in ONE document.

The file name should contain the student's name and title of submission. For example: Jake Barnes_The River Dog Poem

The cover page or first page of the document of the document should contain student's name, address, phone number, email address, school name, school address, instructor's name, instructor's email, and grade in school.

Poems must be typed and submitted as PDF or DOCX or DOC attachments only. Submissions through Google docs links will not be accepted.

Judging

Gannon English faculty members judge the poems. Each poem is read  independently by at least two readers to determine finalists. The final  decisions are made by two select faculty members, who will be named at  the awards ceremony in April at the Annual Gannon Writing Awards  Ceremony.

About

Totem is the student-run arts and literature magazine of Gannon University, released every Spring. Only students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Gannon are eligible to submit work for consideration to be included in the journal. 

We accept art, fiction, creative nonfiction (memoir, personal essay, literary journalism, etc), and poetry. There is no restriction in terms of genre or style. Any excerpt of longer pieces should be able to stand alone without the context of the rest of the work.

Art submissions are limited to two submissions per submitter. 

All student submissions will be considered for the Totem Cover Art Contest and University Writing Awards in Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry.

The winning piece of the Cover Art Contest will be published as the cover of the 2026 issue of Totem and the artist will be awarded $100. 

All work submitted by current Gannon Students will be considered for the Gannon University Writing Awards in Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry, which will also come with prize money. 

Deadline for Art and the Cover Art Contest: October 31st

Deadline for Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry: November 15th

Judging Process

Entries are judged by a panel of staff members and university faculty. Judging will be concealed, meaning staffers and judges will not know the identity of the submitter until after the selection process is completed. 

All art submitted will be printed and displayed on advising day for Gannon faculty, staff, and students to judge a winner.

In addition to the process for selection in Totem, student submissions in Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry will be forwarded to an external judge for the contest.

Formatting Guidelines

Art

Art should be submitted whatever type of file will preserve formatting (though a PDF is preferred) with a resolution of 300 DPI. It will be printed on an 11 in x 14 document for judging on Advising Day. If you would like, Andy Lapiska is available to take a high resolution picture of your work. You may mail him at lapiska002@gannon.edu to set up an appointment.

Alternatively, you may drop off art submissions with Dr. Clayton Bradshaw-Mittal in Palumbo 3239 or Sabine Preuss-Miller in Palumbo 3015. 

Fiction

Fiction (short story, flash fiction, novel excerpt) should be double-spaced and include page numbers. Please do not send more than 5000 words. If sending flash fiction, you may send up to 3 pieces in a single document. Submit the manuscript as a PDF or Word Doc, but consider that a PDF will preserve any special formatting needed. Do not include your name or any identifying information on the manuscript itself.

Creative Nonfiction

Creative Nonfiction (personal essay, memoir, braided essay, lyric essay, flash nonfiction) should be double-spaced and include page numbers. Please do not send more than 4000 words, but you may also send up to 3 pieces of flash nonfiction in a single document. Submit the manuscript as a PDF or Word Doc, but consider that a PDF will preserve any special formatting needed. Do not include your name or any identifying information on the manuscript itself.
 

Poetry

Poems should be submitted in a single document typed, either single- or double-spaced. Please do not send more than six pages of poetry in a single submission. Please submit as a word doc or PDF, but consider that a PDF will preserve any special formatting. Do not include your name or any identifying information on the manuscript itself.

For more information, contact Dr. Clayton Bradshaw-Mittal or Sophia Messenger at TOTEM@gannon.edu or visit gannon.edu/totem.