1. This contest provides a total award this year of $1,200 to the winners. Generally the judges will divide this among four winners. However, depending on the quality of the poems, the judges may divide the $1,250 among more or fewer than four winners, even giving the entire amount to the first place entry. Or, if the judges feel that the poetry submissions are not good enough, they may withhold some or all of the awards.
2. The poems may treat any theme and be of any type within the general limits of what is defined as poetry as long as they conform to the standards of good taste. The judges will select the winning entries primarily on the basis of their literary merit.
3. An entry should be from 50 to 300 lines and may be one long poem or any combination of shorter poems. It should be typed on regular white type paper. The student's pseudonym should be placed in the upper right hand corner of the first page.
4. All entries are to be submitted between February 10 and February 13, 2009 before 5:00 p.m., and the winning poems will be announced at an awards ceremony later in the semester. Entries should be submitted to the College of Humanitites Dean’s Office, 4002 JFSB.
5. The Mayhew Awards Committee will appoint a judging committee of two or more members. These will be drawn from experienced creative writing teachers and critics of the BYU English faculty and other experienced poets and critics.
6. Each student submitting an entry will fill out a cover sheet (available in the Dean’s office, 4002 JFSB) giving name, address, and telephone number and certifying (a) that he or she is eligible by proper enrollment at BYU to enter the contest, and (b) that the entry submitted is the student's own creative work. The student's real name will appear only on this cover sheet; a pseudonym, as indicated above, will be placed on the manuscript itself.

Important note: In addition to the specific rules above for the Poetry Contest, see the sheet of "General Regulations" giving information on all six Mayhew Student Creative Contests. Both the general regulations and the specific rules for each contest should be followed by every student who enters one or more of the contests.


All submissions require a cover sheet. A cover sheet can be picked up in the Dean's Office 4002 JFSB, Art Gallery 303 HFAC, C-581 HFAC, and C-550 HFAC or downloaded here.