Poetry ContestHilda Simmons Levitt

The Hilda Simmons Levitt Poetry Contest, with more than $1,000 in prize money going to the winning poets, has been called one of the most prestigious in the state.

History

It was established in 1988 by the late Stanley Levitt to honor his wife’s memory, and her love of poetry and Midland College. Hilda Simmons Levitt graduated with honors in journalism from Louisiana State University where she also studied under poet Robert Penn Warren. In 1979, at the age of 62, Mrs. Levitt decided to pursue writing again. For the next seven years, until her death in 1986, she studied creative writing at Midland College.

The contest is now underwritten by Mrs. Levitt’s daughter Carol Schwartz, who lives in Washington, D.C.

 

Eligibility

Any full-time or part-time student registered in English classes at Midland College at any time in the past year is eligible to compete. Eligible students may submit as many as five entries, but no contestant will be awarded more than one prize. Prior Grand Award winners are not eligible.

Format Requirements

Your entry may be disqualified if you fail to follow format requirements listed below on this page.

Entry Deadline

The entry deadline is March 30, 2024

Awards

• Grand Award: $600 and Award Plaque
• Second Place Award: $400 and Award Plaque
• Third Place Award: $200 and Award Plaque
• Fourth Place Award: $100 and Award Plaque
  
  Note: Midland College reserves the right to withhold awards if entries are lacking in quality.

JUDGE

Marlon L. Fick is an Associate Professor of English and the former Chair of the Department of Literature and Languages at the University of Texas Permian Basin. He holds a BA from the University of Kansas (Philosophy), an MA from New York University (Poetics/English), and PhD from the University of Kansas (English). He is author of three poetry collections, a book of short stories, and the novel The Nowhere Man (Jaded Ibis, 2015), and is editor/translator of The River Is Wide / El río es ancho: Twenty Mexican Poets (New Mexico, 2005), as well as XEIXA: 14 Catalan Poet (Tupelo, 2018).  His work, The Tenderness and the Wood, has just appeared from Guernica Press (2020). His novel, Rhapsody in a Circle, is forthcoming from Guernica in 2024. Awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, ConaCulta in Mexico, and Institut Ramon Llull in Catalonia, he now teaches at the University of Texas–Permian Basin. He specializes in Comparative Poetics.

Awards Celebration

The Awards Celebration is held each year to recognize contest winners. This year, the awards will be on Thursday, May 2nd at 5:30 PM in the Wagner & Brown Auditorium of the Allison Fine Arts Building, on the MC main campus.

Publication

Selected writings from the Hilda Simmons Levitt Contest will be published in Tableau, an annual student publication produced through cooperation of the Departments of English and Journalism and may also appear on the Midland College website. The material published will be selected by the Hilda Simmons Levitt Poetry Contest Committee and approved by the President of Midland College.

Formatting Requirements

Each poem should be submitted on a separate page in a Microsoft Word (doc,docx) document using the following guidelines:

• Use 1” margins on all sides.
• Center the title, capitalizing important letters (follow standard MLA guidelines for titles) one inch from the top of the first page. Do not include your name or any other identifying information.
• Double-space after the title and between stanzas. Otherwise, single-space throughout.
• Place the title and the page number in a header in the top right corner every page.
• Do not include your name anywhere in the entry.
• Your filename should be the title of the entry.
  
  

ENTRIES

Poetry Contest Entry Form

Contestants may enter a maximum of five poems written in any form and any length.

Questions?

Nancy Barnard
(432) 685-4660
nbarnard@midland.edu