Mustard Seed Farm & Market of Richmond, Texas announced that internationally renowned poet Edward Hirsch will be the final judge of its first annual poetry competition, which is being conducted to raise funds for its work program building project.

The winning poem will be considered to be featured in a mural on the main entry wall of the organization’s new work program building in Richmond, Texas.

Mustard Seed Farm & Market is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization created to provide meaningful work for adults with disabilities, primarily through growing native milkweed plants to help restore Monarch butterfly habitat.  The charity’s Web site is https://www.mustardseedfarmers.org. It is a new non-profit and is in the middle of a capital campaign to raise funds to complete the building where its program participants will work. This poetry competition might be the key to finishing their building and beginning to be able to provide jobs, according to The Katy News.

The poetry competition judge, Edward Hirsch, is a celebrated poet and advocate for poetry. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, including a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, a Pablo Neruda Presidential Medal of Honor, the Prix de Rome and an Academy of Arts and Letters Award. In 2008, he was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

The 2019 Poetry Competition Chairman is Houston-area poet Terry Jude Miller, winner of many Poetry Society of Texas awards, and Assistant Marketing Director for Mustard Seed Farm & Market. He is a member of the Academy of American Poets and the Poetry Society of Texas.  Miller is the creator of the Texas Poets Podcast.

ELIGIBILITY—Poems must be original and unpublished and must not have won or placed in any poetry contest, other than honorable mention. A poet may enter a maximum of three poems.

ENTRY FEES—Entry fees are $10 for the first entry, $5 for second entry, and $5 for third entry. Entering two poems costs $15, entering three poems costs $20. Checks should be made payable to Mustard Seed Farm and Market.

POEM TOPICS—The topic of the poem must be one of or a combination of the following: Monarch butterflies, Monarch butterfly habitats, working with disabled adults, honoring disabled adults and celebrating differences, the beauty of diversity, or uniqueness in creation related to inspiring people who have disabilities.

FORM—Entries must be on regular 8.5” x 11” computer-generated paper in Times Roman 12-point font or typewritten. Entries must be forty lines or less and no line may exceed sixty characters in length (format requirements for the publication). Blank lines are included in the line count but not the title. If a haiku is entered, the first line of the haiku will be considered to be the poem’s title unless the poet gives the haiku a different title.

Participants should submit two (2) copies of each poem with the following distinction: (1) The first copy must show the poet’s name, complete mailing address, email address (if available), and phone number in the upper right corner. (2) The second copy must show only the poem title and poem with nothing on the page that can identify the poet to the judges. If a poem runs more than one page, please staple the pages together on each copy.

AWARDS—Certificates for first, second, third place and honorable mentions, and copies of the Mustard Seed Farm & Market 2019 Poetry Anthology will be awarded to the top three winners. Awards will be given at a venue in the Richmond, Texas area in November 2019. The location and date will be announced in September, and some selected entrants will be asked to read one or more of the poems they entered during an event in honor of contest participants.

DEADLINE—Entries must be received by August 31, 2019. No entries received after this date will be accepted. Send entries to the following address:

Mustard Seed Farm & Market 2019 Poetry Competition

20003 Flax Flower Dr.

Richmond TX 77407

Winners’ names will be posted on the Mustard Seed Farm & Market website, https://www.mustardseedfarmers.org. The top fifteen poems and other selected entries will be published in the Mustard Seed Farm and Market 2019 Poetry Anthology.