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Under 25 Poetry invites poets 18 to 24 years of age from around the world to submit to the Under 25 Poetry Contest. All topics, all poets, all styles – and now, monthly.
The Under 25 Poetry Contest is published in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada by Florencia Bay Books. Edited and designed by Kirk Ramdath. Nanaimo is located on the traditional and unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation of the Coast Salish People.
View past winners in previous issues of Wax Poetry and Art Magazine, published in the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
The Under 25 Poetry Contest is a qualifying publication for the Under 25 Poetry World Cup.
The Under 25 Poetry Contest is part of Under 25 Poetry.
Under 25 Poetry is part of waxpoetryart.com –
Visit waxpoetryart.com to explore poetry
(including haiku
and spoken word),
visual art,
photography,
play,
and fiction
submission opportunities.
Experience the thrills of the Weekly Poems Contest.
Frequency of Submissions
Every calendar month, you may submit one poem to the Under 25 Poetry Contest.
Persons 18 to 24 can submit additional poems to other opportunities from both
Under 25 Poetry and
Wax Poetry and Art.
The Under 25 Poetry Contest Runs Monthly (New!)
- Submissions are open all year; the contest runs monthly.
- The contest winner will be published during the next calendar month following the submission.
There will not be a direct rejection notice; submissions will expire instead, after the next calendar month following the submission,
or when the winner is published in the Under 25 Poetry Library.
(Eg. A submission made during February will expire at the end of March or whenever the winner is published in March.)
- Submissions may sometimes be offered publication at a later date.
In that case, the publication will query the availability of the work.
Unpublished and Original
The work submitted must be previously unpublished and completely original to the author.
If accepted, the work must also remain unpublished until it is published by this magazine.
You can republish the work anywhere you like after it's published.
Zero Tolerance for AI-Generated Work
Submissions that use generated AI are not permitted and will result in a permanent ban.
Young Poets World – for Poets 18 and Under
Persons under 18 years of age are now required to submit poetry to
Young Poets World.
Prohibition on Harmful Content
As per the Code of Conduct, work that is considered harmful toward any group of people will not be considered.
Other Criteria
Currently, there is no criteria for number or lines or word count.
Write A Note About the Work (Optional)
Write a note about the submitted work that gives some background about the piece, or insight
into your motivation or process of writing the piece.
Anything that you think is interesting and want to share with readers.
This section can be up to around 100 words long, and will be published with your work if accepted.
As well, this section may be published separately in Poetry and Art News
to help promote this submission.
(This section replaces the Keywords section previously used.)
Biography
Include a short biography, approximately 100 words, maximum.
Please use your intended artist name in your biography.
You may include one external link to a social media page or website.
Long biographies will be truncated at the editor's discretion.
Language of Publication
The language of publication is English.
Limited use of a few words using local terms and languages is appropriate when it suits the work.
Provide a note for the translations.
Code of Conduct and Privacy Policy
If this is your first visit to a waxpoetryart.com publication, please read
the Code of Conduct and Privacy Policy at the end of the page.
Place Submission into Email, Not Attachment
The text of the entire submission must be included in the body of the email.
You may include an attached Word document that contains the submission as a backup,
however the text of the submission MUST be included in the body of the email.
Legal Name and Mailing, Postal, or Residential Address
Include your legal name, if different from your artist name, and complete mailing address
including street number, street name, city, province / state, country, postal code, and optional phone / WhatsApp number.
Notice of Receipt of Your Submission
All submissions will receive an automated reply confirming that the email containing your submission has been received.
Unfortunately, some email servers may send the automated reply to your junk mail folder, or otherwise prevent it from reaching your inbox.
In most cases, your email was received.
Submission Queries: Please Wait One Month
To allow time to process the submission, please wait one month before querying your submission.
When querying your submission, please forward the email containing the original submission.
Simultaneous Submissions
Simultaneous submissions to other publishers are allowed.
Please withdraw your submission immediately if it is accepted elsewhere.
Your submission expires after one month, so after that, there is no need to notify us.
Please do not simultaneously submit any work to multiple waxpoetryart.com publications at the same time.
The Under 25 Poetry Contest winner will be published online in the Under 25 Poetry Library and listed in various other places on the website such as the waxpoetryart.com Grand Library.
Accessible to All
This publication is available to the public for free online,
accessible to everyone who has Internet access.
This means that you will be able to share your work with as many people as possible –
family, friends, fans, colleagues, and truly, the entire world.
Under 25 Poetry World Cup Qualification
Every poem accepted and published in all Under 25 Poetry publications qualifies for entry into the Under 25 Poetry World Cup.
All poems will compete for the
Under 25 Poetry World Cup that will happen the next year after publication, on January 15th.
All publications qualify, and the top qualifiers (based on readers) will be noted on the
Under 25 Poetry World Cup web page at the beginning of the contest.
Copyright
Copyright of the published work remains with the original author.
First Publication
Upon acceptance, the writer grants the publisher, Florencia Bay Books, the right to the first publication of the poem,
as well as the right to republish the work in Wax Poetry and Art and waxpoetryart.com anthologies and collections,
online and in print, without additional permission required.
Royalties for Print and Electronic Sales
If the work is ever collected into a book or made available for sale in any print format, the artist will receive a minimum 20% royalty.
If the work is included in a printed collection with other artists (as is most likely), the 20% royalty is shared equally among all artists,
based on the number of submissions contributed.
If the work is ever made available for sale in a digital format, a 50% royalty will be given.
Royalties for print and electronic sales will be paid out annually in January if a minimum of $10 CAD is accrued.
Artist Page and Artist Collection
All published artists receive a Under 25 Poetry Artist Page.
The Artist Page will house the artist's biography and the list of their publications across all Under 25 Poetry publications.
Once the artist accumulates 12 publications on their Artist Page, and every 12 publications thereafter, an Artist Collection will be published in the Library.
The writer will also receive a royalty advance of $25 CAD, to be paid following publication of the Artist Collection.
National and Other Collections
In addition to being added to their own artist page, new publications are also added to the
Countries page for their nation,
to build a national collection. Other theme-based collections may be published online in the
Under 25 Poetry Library at any time.
No Initial Payment
There is no initial payment upon publication.
Permission to Record Audio Version
Publisher and editor, Kirk Ramdath, may record an audio reading of the published work and upload to YouTube (and/or other),
and published in SWAV Poetry (a waxpoetryart.com publicaton)
as a way to promote the author, the published work, and the magazine.
(This is a new development; Kirk Ramdath is an experienced performing poet who is re-engaging with the vocal space.)
This is not a guarantee that this will happen.
You can opt out of a possible audio reading of your work by request when you submit.
Editor's Right to Edit
The editor reserves the right to make whatever changes are deemed necessary to ensure that publication occurs.
Email Subject Header
Use the following statement as your email subject header:
– "Under 25 Poetry Contest submission."
Place Submission into Email, Not Attachment
The text of the entire submission must be included in the body of the email.
You may include an attached Word document that contains the submission as a backup,
however the text of the submission MUST be included in the body of the email.
Submission Checklist
Submissions must include the following components.
1) Agreement Statement
"I am 18 to 24 years old and I agree with the guidelines for the Under 25 Poetry Contest."
2) Poem
Write a Note About the Work (Optional)
Write a note about the work, up to around 100 words.
3) Biography
Up to around 100 words, may include one link.
4) Postal Mailing Address / Address of Residence.
– Artist Name:
– Legal Name:
– Street Number and Name:
– City:
– Province/State:
– Country:
– Postal Code:
– (Optional) Phone / WhatsApp:
Date of Birth Not Required
Please note that it is not required to provide your date of birth,
however this publication reserves the right to request it if circumstances arise.
Send your submission by email to info@under25poetry.com.
About the Editor
Kirk Ramdath is the publisher, editor, and designer of the Under 25 Poetry Contest
and the waxpoetryart.com publications.
He has read and performed at poetry events in Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax, and many other cities in Canada.
Kirk had the honour of performing a poem at the Opening Ceremony of the world-famous Peace Bridge in Calgary in 2012.
Watch the video of Kirk's Peace Bridge Poem.
He has been a publisher since 2005.
He also organized many dozen poetry events, around the 2010s.
Particularly, open-mic poetry events with a featured artist.
Kirk's first book, Love in a Handful of Dust,
was published by Florencia Bay Books in 2025
and was originally published in print by Frontenac House in 2011.
In 2002, Kirk obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, with Distinction,
and a Minor in Philosophy from the University of Calgary, in Canada.
Kirk was born in Trinidad and Tobago, moved to Canada at age 10 with his family,
and now writes and publishes from Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.
Code of Conduct
All persons representing waxpoetryart.com will adhere to the highest ethical standard of conduct and respect
for all persons and will operate with integrity and in good faith in all matters.
waxpoetryart.com will not discriminate against any person because of race, religion, sexual orientation,
gender, financial or educational status, physical ability, or any other reason.
waxpoetryart.com will not accept any submission considered harmful in any way, especially toward a marginalized community.
Contact publisher and editor Kirk Ramdath directly with any concerns by email at info@florenciabaybooks.com.
waxpoetryart.com reserves the right to refuse or annul any agreement with any party whose association is harmful, or is deemed to become harmful,
to the readers, employees, volunteers, artists, and any related persons, and / or brands associated with waxpoetryart.com.
Privacy Policy
Personal data, artistic work, and all information provided to Poetry Contest as part of emailed submissions or any other communication
will never be used or shared in any manner except those explicitly stated and mutually agreed upon.
Your data is protected by two-factor authentication using Microsoft Authenticator.
Send questions via email to Kirk Ramdath at info@under25poetry.com.
Under 25 Poetry is part of waxpoetryart.com.
- Visit the Under 25 Poetry Submissions page to see all opportunities.
- Visit the Under 25 Poetry Library.
- This website and all contents ©Florencia Bay Books and specified artists.
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