Earth Day Poetry & Photo Contests

Earth Day 2025 Photo Contest DEADLINE is EXTENDED until SUNDAY, APRIL 13, 2025!!

We would love to see your poetry, flash fiction, video, or photos around our “Stories” theme to celebrate Earth Day! See entry details below.

About the Theme…

Our 2025 event theme is “Stories” – stories bring people together and connect us across time and distance. This year we highlight the Maple Ridge Library and the Maple Ridge Museum, who specialize in story sharing and connecting our community.

Sharing stories creates identity – when we see the world and ourselves reflected back to us, we feel less alone, more confident, and have the courage to act on our beliefs, to hope for a better future, to strive for a better world. Stories can be told in so many ways – through music & dance, visual art & tattoos, oral & written traditions…We ARE our stories. Come share yours and contribute a verse to the powerful, ongoing story of our Earth.

 

Celebrate Earth Day 2025 Photo Contest

PHOTO Contest: 3 categories – Child (up to age 10), Youth (11-16), & Adult (17+), PLUS Grand Prize Winner. Send entries in jpg format (minimum 1MB) with name & age (if under 17) to r.davies@shaw.ca by midnight on SUNDAY, APRIL 13, 2025

Entries will be posted on the Celebrate Earth Day Facebook page and voting will be open to the public from April 14 to 20. Visit & vote for your favourite photos! Winners will be announced at the Earth Day Welcoming Ceremonies on Saturday, April 26.

   

Celebrate Earth Day 2025 Poetry & MORE Contest

We want to see your best “Stories” themed poem, flash fiction or video to celebrate Earth Day in Maple Ridge 2025. This is the third year we’ve expanded our poetry contest to include flash fiction and video (it has been a great addition!), so get creative and show us your stuff!

3 winners in each category (poetry, flash fiction and video compete against each other in each category):

  • Kids (up to age 10) – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
  • Youth (age 11 to 16) – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
  • Adult (17 and up) – 1st, 2nd and 3rd

Winners may be asked to have their work published or read at the Celebrate Earth Day Welcoming Ceremonies on Saturday, April 26, 2025.

Submit your poem, flash fiction or video via email by midnight, MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2025 to: EarthDayCreative2021@gmail.com (no, we didn’t update the email address from 2021!)

Contest criteria:

  • Relevance to “Stories” theme (25%)
  • Judge’s impression (25%)
  • Format structure (20%) (poetic structure/flash fiction structure/video structure)
  • Spelling, grammar, clarity, technical capability (15%)
  • Originality (15%)

Rules & Regulations

  1. The contest is open to all British Columbia residents.
  2. Limit of up to 2 entries per person. Must be previously unpublished work.
  3. All styles of poetry will be accepted to a 350-word limit. Flash fiction is a 500-word limit. Video is a 1-minute limit.
  4. Entries must be sent as a PDF, DOC or DOCX attachment for poetry or flash fiction. Video must be sent as a link to YouTube or a public Facebook video post. Email entries must also include name, age, BC mailing address, phone number and email address.
  5. Winners will be selected by publishing and writing professional(s).
  6. Rights: By entering the contest you are giving Celebrate Earth Day Maple Ridge first Canadian rights for publication, AND the option to collect all the years’ poems, flash fiction pieces and videos into a multi-year compilation at some point. You are free to market your work(s) in other places, but you should inform them if it has won or appeared on the Celebrate Earth Day in Maple Ridge website or been published as part of Earth Day materials.