No purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter or win this contest.

The Pitch appears three times a year, in winter, spring and fall, on the Poetry Northwest website.

To enter, submit your poem through our online submission system and select “The Pitch” as the category. One entry per person or e-mail address. Entries must be in English. Entries that are lost, late, misdirected, garbled, or incompletely received, for any reason, including by reason of hardware, software, browser, or network failure, malfunction, congestion, or incompatibility at the Web site or elsewhere, will not be eligible. Poetry Northwest, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to disqualify any person tampering with the entry process, the operation of the Web site, or otherwise in violation of the rules. It further reserves the right to cancel, terminate, or modify any Pitch not capable of completion as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, force majeure, or technical failures of any sort.

Entrants represent and warrant that their Submission is their original work, it has not been copied from others, and it does not violate the rights of any other person or entry.

All entry materials become the property of Poetry Northwest and will not be acknowledged or returned. The copyright in any submission shall remain the property of the entrant, but entry in The Pitch constitutes the entrant’s irrevocable, perpetual permission and consent, without further compensation or attribution, to use the Submission and the entrant’s name and city and state for editorial, advertising, commercial and publicity purposes by Poetry Northwest, in any and all media now in existence or hereinafter created, throughout the world, for the duration of the copyright in the Submission. Poetry Northwest shall have the right to edit, adapt, and modify the Submission. Each entrant releases and discharges Poetry Northwest, the judges, any party associated with the development or administration of the Pitch, from any and all liability in connection with the Pitch, including without limitation, legal claims, costs, injuries, losses or damages, demand or actions of any kind.

Two finalists will be selected from each Pitch by a member or members of the editorial staff of Poetry Northwest. Each finalist’s Submission will be published on the Pitch page, along with each finalist’s name and city and state, at the end of the quarter/season for which the Pitch is posted. All decisions of the editorial staff are final and binding.

The winner of each contest will be the person whose submission received the greatest number of valid votes from the public and who satisfies all of the rules. One Vote per person or e-mail address. Please click on Vote for Your Favorite for details on how to vote for particular finalists and on the deadlines for voting.

The editorial staff will tabulate the Votes and announce the winner on the Pitch page. All decisions of the editorial staff are final and binding.

The Qualified Winner of each Pitch will receive a permanent publication on the site, plus a year’s subscription to Poetry Northwest. If the winner cannot be contacted or does not respond within three (3) days, an alternate winner may be selected, at the sole discretion of the Judge(s).

Subject to all federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Void where prohibited. The Prize is not transferable.

All entries become the property of Poetry Northwest for the duration of the contest, and will not be acknowledged or returned. Rights revert to each participant upon publication, or expiration of the quarterly contest.

Except where prohibited: (i) acceptance of the Prize constitutes consent to use winner’s name, likeness, and winning entry for editorial, advertising, and publicity purposes, without further compensation; (ii) winner may be required to sign an affidavit of eligibility and copyright transfer/liability/publicity/permission release. If the winner is deemed to be a minor under the jurisdiction of his/her residence, the parent or legal guardian must execute the necessary affidavit and release. Affidavits and releases must be returned within ten (10) days of attempted notification or an alternate winner may be chosen.