Moving Words Adult Competition 2024
Moving Words makes poetry a part of daily life for commuters riding Arlington Transit (ART) by replacing advertising placards inside public buses with poems by local poets. Moving Words was launched in 1999 during National Poetry Month and is sponsored by Arlington Transit and the Cultural Affairs Division of Arlington Economic Development.
View the 2023 Moving Words Winning Poems.
Call for Submissions
From November 10th to January 17th, we are looking for poems of 10 lines or less that will be displayed inside ART buses between March and September 2024. This year's competition will be judged by Arlington Poet Laureate Courtney LeBlanc!
Seven poems will be selected to be printed on colorful placards and displayed prominently on area buses, enlivening the ride for thousands of commuters. Each winner will also receive a $250 honorarium. Winning poems will be posted on ArlingtonArts.org and will be archived on the Arlington County CommuterPage.com website.
Poets who live within the D.C. Metro transit area (the Northern Virginia counties Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun, and the cities Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church; the District of Columbia; and the Maryland counties Montgomery and Prince George's) and are over 18 years old are eligible to enter. There is no fee to enter.
About the Judge
Courtney LeBlanc is author of the full-length collections Her Whole Bright Life, winner of the Jack McCarthy Book Prize, Exquisite Bloody, Beating Heart, and Beautiful & Full of Monsters. She is the Arlington Poet Laureate, a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts fellow, and the founder and editor-in-chief of Riot in Your Throat, an independent poetry. She loves nail polish, tattoos, and a soy latte each morning.
Submission Form
The submission form will be available through January 17, 2024.
Click here to view form.