Sidewalk Poetry Contest: Get Your Words Imprinted In Concrete! Apply By 3/10

The City of Cambridge is seeking poems for its 2023 Sidewalk Poetry Contest. Five winning poems will be imprinted into the fresh concrete of new sidewalks around the city beginning this fall. Winners will also each receive a $100 prize.

Cambridge residents of any age are invited to submit one poem of their own work to the City's eighth annual Sidewalk Poetry Contest beginning Feb. 13, 2023, via the online entry form: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/6f59a6c8ddcd478aa827d746e7dc9888

Contest closes Friday, March 10, 2023, at noon. It’s free to submit a poem. City of Cambridge employees, staff, or appointed or elected members of city councils, boards, or commissions, are not eligible to apply.

New this year, applicants are allowed to submit poems in any language.

For full entry guidelines and more information about the project, visit https://www.cambridgema.gov/arts/Programs/sidewalkpoetry/howtoapply.

Have questions? Contact Cambridge Arts at sidewalkpoetry@cambridgema.gov or 617-349-4388.

Sidewalk Poetry is a partnership of the Department of Public Works, Cambridge Arts and the Cambridge Public Library. Launched in 2015, the program combines writing by residents with the City’s sidewalk repair program. It exemplifies the care—and delight—we put into maintaining shared City infrastructure. And the program provides cultural access and opportunity—creating opportunities for more people to freely experience poetry and more writers to share their work. Find poems throughout the city via our Sidewalk Poetry Map: Sidewalk Poetry Map.