LEXINGTON, Va. April 5, 2025 — The Commonwealth of Virginia’s poet laureate, Mattie Quesenberry Smith, Ph.D., instructor in the Department of English, Rhetoric and Humanistic Studies at Virginia Military Institute, along with Poetry Society of Virginia (PSV) announce a poetry contest for veterans called, “Veterans’ Perseverance & Resilience: A Project Supporting Veterans through Poetry.”

The contest is a part of Smith’s project serving veterans and in memory of Edward W. Lull, a former executive director and president of PSV and 20-year Navy veteran who passed away last year.  

All veterans of the U.S. military are eligible to submit up to three poems which address veterans’ experiences with perseverance and resilience during active duty and/or throughout their re-entry into civilian life. Each poem can be written in any form, but cannot exceed 45 lines in length. Poems using profane, racist, or sexist language will be disqualified.  

Poems will be judged for first, second, third, and honorable mention prizes. Finalists’ poems as well as a wider selection of other entries will be published in an anthology titled, “Perseverance and Resilience: Celebrating Veterans’ Poetry.” Entries should be submitted online here. The deadline is Saturday, July 5, 2025.   

-VMI-