Judge: Javier Eye (Spain)
Deadline: November 30, 11:55 PM, EST
Entry fee: None
Eligibility: Teens between the ages of 13-19
$200 for first-place
$100 for second-place
$50 for third-place
The winning poems will be published in Under the Madness Magazine and all submissions will also be considered for publication.
Street writing is a ritual itself. Our contest judge, Javier Eye, considers street writing sacred because you sit down, set up the stall and magic starts happening! It is also sacred because a street poet is working with people's vulnerabilities. Writing outdoors, you can learn things about people and writing that would never be taught indoors or through books.
Here's how to street write.
Find a place outside your home or not where you regularly (and privately) write. Bring your notebook, gadget, laptop--or maybe even a vintage typewriter! Javier's favorite way is to set up his typewriter and table on a sidewalk. Put up a sign inviting people to approach you with their poetry requests. Ask people to come back in 10 minutes to pick up their poem specially written by you. Be sure to take a photo or make a copy of your poem before you give it to the person who commissioned it! You'll need the copies to send to the contest and for your own records.
Try street writing a few times. Then send us 1-3 of the best poems from your street writing collection. Include the date, time, and place. Tell us a bit about the people who commissioned the poems and what was happening in space around you as you created each poem in those minutes. If you wrote the poems in a language other than English, feel free to include an excerpt, but the ones you send to the contest need to be translated into English.
Stay tuned for an announcement about a special online workshop Javier Eye will be presenting for Under the Madness Magazine on his experiences as a street poet. It'll be a great way to meet the judge and hear about best practices for writing these poems!
How to send to the contest: Send 1-3 poems as a Word attachment or PDF to underthemadnessmagazine.com. Make sure your name DOES NOT APPEAR in the attachment because this contest is judged blindly. Work generated by AI is not eligible. In the subject line of your email, put STREET POETRY CONTEST ENTRY. In the body of the email, tell us your age and where you reside on planet Earth. Note: submissions lacking this information will be automatically disqualified. Winners will be announced on Instagram by December 23.
About the Judge: Javier Eye was born in Spain in the late 1980's. After living in the UK and Ibiza for over ten years, he has been based in Madrid since 2021. He is usually found adorning the conscious & artistic event circuit. Javier comes from the movement world. He is a certified senior technician of Animation, Sports & Physical activity. Javier spent most of his life swimming and practicing martial arts. He worked as lifeguard for six years and is an experienced self-defense instructor. The attraction to movement brought him a multitude of artistic talents, including performer physical theatre (actor, clown, poet, storyteller). His repertoire includes working as a pilates and breath-work instructor, personal trainer and motivational life coach, a reiki practitioner, tarot reader, and laughter therapist. He is the author of the forthcoming Diary of A Street Poet, an excerpt of which is available at the Under the Madness Magazine blog, translated by Adrián Lebrón Hernández.
