"Choose Life" Poetry Contest

January 19, 2012

The Manhattan Declaration poetry contest has begun! To continue with the theme of the month, Sanctity of Life, we want to encourage those who firmly take a pro-life stance to participate in this contest.

How to enter you might ask? Its simple, share with us why to “CHOOSE LIFE” through the creative form of a poem. Remember, you don't have to be a poet by profession to enter! In fact, this is something you can do with your kids, your spouse, or as a school project.

Poems will be voted on by Facebook users, and the top 3 rated poem writers will win a brand new Kindle Fire.

To get involved, more information can be found on our contest rules page.

Already have a poem? Enter now

Read/Vote on your favorite poem

Comments 5

Patrick Erickson 19 Jan
My question concerns your poetry contest ("CHOOSE LIFE"). You state "you are assigning copyright and granting all rights and permission to Manhattan Declaration." Does this mean that you retain the copyright and all rights and permission permanently? Normally, with this sort of thing, the publisher has first publication rights, and after publication the copyright and pertinent rights and permission reverts to the author. I would like to submit a poem to your contest, but not if I have to give up ownership of my intellectual property. Please advise.
Victoria Dreksler 21 Jan
Not thinking, I posted a scratch version of my poem without spelling corrections. Now what? They own it!
William Patrick Saladino 24 Jan
Mother lovingly raises her child in the air
The wind blows gently through her hair
A moment in time
Yet so sublime
Remembering when
Remembering when
Like a black and white photo
A moment in time
Yet so sublime
Yet so sublime
Tom Pillion 30 Jan
I have the same question as Patrick Erickson, above, with the same concerns...I am happy to give Manhattan Declaration permission to use my material for however they see fit, to include publishing and gleaning any monies they can from the promotion and use of the material. But, as Patrick has expressed, I ultimately want to retain ownership of my intellectual property. Thank you for a response in time to allow me to submit my lyrics. Tom
Manhattan Declaration 02 Feb
We do apologize for not responding in this thread sooner.

Patrick and Tom,
The poems will be used in a lot of different ways in the coming years which is why we did not want to bother with complex licensing.
Most poetry submitters are writing poems just for this contest and are viewing their submissions as a gift to The Manhattan Declaration. We totally respect your desire to retain rights to your greatest works, and so we wouldn't ask you to submit a poem you felt had residual financial value not worth parting with. We wanted the contest to be fun and also provide lots of opportunities for people to understand the Sanctity of Life from different angles through different mediums in the future.

Victoria,
We would be more than happy to make appropriate edits to your poem. Please e-mail us at manhattandec@gmail.com with the corrections that you would like to be made to your poem.

Thank you all again for your interest and participation in this contest.