2011 YOUTH POETRY SCHOLARSHIP

This is a brief posting at keystothecloset.blogspot.com. For important detailed information contact Dare to Care at the address below.

First Prize: $1000; Second Prize: $ 500; Third Prize: $ 250 ELIGIBILITY: All entrants must be residents of Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, or Summit counties and aged between 14 and 18 years of age by the date of submission. Immediate family members of The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trangender (LGBT) Center of Greater Cleveland and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Cleveland Steering Committee, Sub-Committees, and their Board of Directors, are ineligible to enter.

THE CONTEST: The Dare to Care Poetry prize honors the lives of youth and young adults who have suffered the effects of hate as a result of their sexual identity, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. The only stipulation for the poem’s con-tent is that it should have a defy hate theme and address the consequences of bigotry, specifically homophobia, and/or transpho-bia and the negativity they engender in our culture, lives, and hearts. Homophobia and transphobia describe the irrational fear of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people that expresses itself in anti-LGBT emotions, thoughts, and actions.

POEM: Poems must be original work and free of plagiarism or copyrighted material. Failure to use original material will result in disqualification. Poems must be titled, previously unpublished, and either typed, (double-spaced, 12 font) in black ink on 8.5 x 11 paper, (or standard Microsoft Word template), or legibly hand written.. Do not use italic or bolded print. Colored ink, colored pa-per, graphics or images will not be accepted. Poems should not exceed 50 lines in length. Poems that are longer than 50 lines will not be included in the competition, so please count the lines carefully.

ENTRY IDENTIFICATION: Please download and print (or copy) the required application form (available after December 1st 2010 – http://cleveland.hrc.org/). The title of your poem, but not your name, should appear in the header at the top of each sub-mission page and on the application form. Mail-in submissions should be sent to: Dare to Care Poetry Competition P.O. Box 451174 Westlake, OH 44145. On-line applications and submissions are available @ http://www.hrc.org/daretocarepoetry/ or by emailing: daretocarepoetry@aol.com.

DEADLINE: The deadline for all entries is midnight April 15th, 2011. The LGBT Center and the HRC Cleveland Steering Com-mittee is not responsible for lost, late, misdirected or delayed entries, whether caused by mail/other delivery systems or human error which may occur in the processing of entries to this contest; or any problems/technical malfunctions of any computer equip-ment or software by either the applicant, The LGBT Center or the HRC Cleveland Steering Committee.