Poetry, Prose, Art & Photography Contest

Each winter IATE accepts submissions for the Poetry, Prose, Art and Photography Contest. Guidelines are listed below, and entries are due by December 15th.

Previously restricted to students in grades 6-12, IATE will expand the contest beginning with the 2025-2026 school year and will accept submissions from students in grades 3-12. Submissions will be grouped for evaluation by genre (poetry, prose, or art/photography) and by grade level (grades 3-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12).

We look forward to the opportunity to recognize students’ work and to showcase the creativity of Illinois’ young writers and artists!

Guidelines for Submissions

• All submissions should be made online using the submission links below.
  (Please note: you must be an IATE member, and logged in, to make submissions.)
• Teachers may submit up to 5 prose pieces, 10 poetry pieces, and 10 visual pieces, total.
• Prose has a 1000-word limit.
• Prose submissions should be in MLA format and identify all sources per current MLA guidelines.
• Poetry has a 44-line limit.
• Provide color photo of physical artwork such as paintings, ceramics, or textiles in a high-quality .jpg or .png format.
• Photography submissions may be color or black-and-white. If photos are digitally altered, explain the alterations. IATE reserves the right to crop photos and visual representations of artwork.
• Submission information (entered online during the submission process) should include the following:
  • Full name of student
  • Title of student’s work
  • Genre of submission
  • Student grade level at the time of the creation of the submission
  • Full name of school
  • School’s complete mailing address
  • Full name of teacher and their IATE district
  • Email address of teacher

Entries to the Poetry, Prose, Art and Photography Contest must be submitted by an IATE member. If you’d like to submit student work and are not yet a member, please visit our membership page.