Student Ekphrastic Competition
October 1, 2026-January 12, 2027
The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets partners with the Woodson Art Museum to invite high school students to participate in a statewide ekphrastic poetry competition. Students will write and submit poems inspired by artworks from the Museum’s permanent collection. Entries are accepted October 1, 2026 through January 12, 2027.
An installation of the winning poems and collection artworks will follow during National Poetry Month, and the Museum will hold a reception for the winning poets, their families, and educators on Saturday, April 10 at 1 pm. In addition, winning poems are announced on WFOP’s contest results page.
Cash prizes:
1st place $75
2nd place $50
3rd place $25
Submission Period: October 1, 2026-January 12, 2027. Poems arriving after 11:59 p.m on January 12, 2027, will not be considered.
Submission Guidelines:
Students may enter ONE original ekphrastic poem based on one of the contest artworks for the year. Use of generative AI is not permitted.
Maximum length: 24 lines (which includes stanza breaks, but not the title). We cannot consider longer poems, multiple entries or collaborative poems.
Line length: 60-character limit, including spaces and indents.
Students need to be currently attending high school in Wisconsin.
To Submit:
Please send an email to wfopstudent@gmail.com with the following information:
Student Name
Student Email
School
Teacher's Name and Email Address
Student's Grade in School
Student's Email Address
Student's Phone Number
Attach poem to the email (please include which of the three artworks on the website inspired the poem)
A one-sentence statement declaring that AI was not used to generate or edit the poem (something like, "AI was not used in the creation of this poetry submission.")
Featured Art
The featured art has been chosen from the permanent collection of the Leigh Hawkey Woodson Art Museum. Learn more about the museum on their website.
Mila Judge-Fürstová, Trees, 2006, mixed media and etching on paper, Gift of Richard E. Brock
Alan Bray, Hadrian’s Dream, 1994, casein on panel, Museum purchase with funds provided by the John and Alice Forester Charitable Trust
Odilon Redon, Seaside, La Falaise, ca. 1890, oil on paper laid down on board, Museum purchase with funds provided by the Nancy Woodson Spire Foundation
Contest Juror: Amalia Wojciechowski
Amalia Wojciechowski is an art historian and assistant director and collection curator at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin. She oversees exhibitions, acquisitions, and the care and interpretation of the Museum’s permanent collection. Through her curatorial work and writing, she creates engaging connections among art, artists, and the natural world.
Contest Coordinator: Freesia McKee
Freesia McKee is a poet who grew up in Milwaukee. Since 2023, she has served as an Assistant Professor of English at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Freesia writes about history, place, gender, and genre, and her work has appeared in The Journal, Fugue, Puerto del Sol, Cleaver, ellipses, Mobius, Stoneboat, and Tinderbox Poetry Journal as well as three chapbooks, How Distant the City (Headmistress Press), Hummingbird Vows (Bottlecap Press), and City of Honesty (Water’s Edge Press). Freesia served as the Fall 2022 Poet in Residence at Ripon College. Her scholarly research interests include empathy in the classroom and ecopoetics pedagogy.