OPA is thrilled to announce four categories and judges for entries in this year’s summer poetry contest – now open, with a deadline of June 25, 2026:
And in the spirit of the 70th Anniversary, all four judges are prior recipients of the OPA Patricia Ruth Banta Award!
Note: The contest is a bit earlier because the 70th Celebration is a bit earlier, and we hope to hear winners read at the festival at the end of August.
CONTEST CATEGORIES:
1) OREGON Poet’s Choice: one poem / two pages maximum, any subject, any form. Entrant must have current Oregon mailing address.
Judge: Dale Champlin
2) Members Only: one poem / one page maximum, any subject, any form. Entrant must be a current OPA member.
Judge: Marc Janssen
3) Emerging Poet: one poem / one page maximum, any form. Poet must not have any published, accepted, or self-published poetry chapbooks or books.
Judge: Eleanor Berry
4) Theme—”Poetry of Endurance, Resilience, Strength, & Rarity”: one poem / one page maximum, any form, on this year’s 70th Celebration theme.
Judge: Emmett Wheatfall
See full guidelines and the electronic submission process in Submittable
And here’s more about our judges:
Category: OREGON Poet’s Choice
For most of her working life, Dale Champlin has been a corporate graphic designer. Her many clients include Adidas, Oregon Symphony, Oregon Historical Society, and Hanna Andersson. Dale is an Oregon poet with an MFA in fine arts. She is the editor of the OPA Verseweavers and Cascadia anthologies of contest winning poems, the OPA Newsletter, and the co-director of Head for the Hills. Dale is a past recipient of the Oregon Poetry Association Patricia Ruth Banta Award. She has published in VoiceCatcher, North Coast Squid, Willawaw Journal, Mojave River Press, The Opiate, Cathexis, and other publications. Her poetry collections include, Callie Comes of Age (Cirque Press, 2021), The Barbie Diaries (2019), Isadora (2022) Andromina (2023), Medusa (2025) and Victims of Desire (The Opiate Books, 2026).
Category: Members Only
What is there left to say about Marc Janssen, other than he should eat more vegetables? Maybe his verse can be found scattered around the world in places like Pinyon, Orbis, Pure Slush, Cirque Journal, Two Thirds North and Poetry Salzburg also in his book November Reconsidered and his recent book collaboration A Resurrection of Trees. Marc is also a past recipient of the Oregon Poetry Association Patricia Ruth Banta Award. Janssen coordinates the Salem Poetry Project- a weekly reading, the occasionally occurring Salem Poetry Festival and keeps getting nominated for Oregon Poet Laureate. For more information visit, marcjanssenpoet.com.
Category: Emerging Poet
Eleanor Berry’s latest poetry collection is Not Just Us, a chapbook just published by Finishing Line Press. Her Works of Wildfire won the 2022 Grayson Books Chapbook Award. Previous publications include Green November (Traprock Books, 2007), No Constant Hues (Turnstone Books of Oregon, 2015), and Only So Far (Main Street Rag, 2019). A past president of the Oregon Poetry Association and the National Federation of State Poetry Societies, and a past recipient of the Oregon Poetry Association Patricia Ruth Banta Award, Berry holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and has taught at colleges and universities in Wisconsin and Oregon.
Category: Theme – Poetry of Endurance, Resilience, Strength, & Rarity
Emmett Wheatfall is an American poet, Oregon Poet Laureate nominee, and past recipient of the prestigious Oregon Poetry Association Patricia Ruth Banta Award. His poetry has been published in several books, collections, anthologies, and one of them, As Clean as a Bone, was a 2019 Eric Hoffer Award Finalist and a da Vinci Eye award finalist. Emmett has keynoted two Oregon Poetry Association’s Conferences. In 2020, Corban University produced a 9-part series documentary that highlights Emmett’s early life and poetry. Emmett Wheatfall is one of Oregon’s premier poets.