2024 Earth Day Poetry Contest

sponsored by the
Coati Kids Club
of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

Photo of 2019 Winners, Kiran and Zahra
2019 Earth Day Poetry Contest Winners
Kiran and Zahra

For children in grades K-6. Winners from each grade level will be chosen.

Each student should write an original poem about the Sonoran Desert — how this place is their home, or animals, plants, the landscape, observations, feelings, hopes — whatever is important to them*.

Poems can be submitted by mail or digitally. Teachers/Students: please post on the front of each poem the student name, grade level, teacher name, and school name. Teachers, please provide your phone number and e-mail address. Only individual entries will be accepted, no class entries.

Poems should be submitted (postmarked or emailed) by March 22, 2024. Email poem as a pdf or photo to rkropp@desertmuseum.org with the subject line Earth Day Poetry Entry or mail to:

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Coati Kids Club
2021 N. Kinney Road
Tucson, AZ 85743
Please send a self-addressed stamped envelope if you want us to return your poetry.

Entries will be judged on originality and content (*please no AI-assisted entries) by a panel of Desert Museum and UA Poetry Center judges. Teachers of winning entries will be notified by April 24, 2024. Winners’ families will be invited to a reception and reading of all winning entries at the Desert Museum on May 19, 2024. Winning poems will be featured on the Desert Museum website, and all winning poets will receive a certificate and family pass to attend the reading and reception. The first place winner from each grade will win an annual membership to the Coati Kids' Club!

Plus, one overall winner from grades K-3 and one from grades 4-6 received a FREE Desert Museum live animal outreach program for their school in May!

For additional information call Robin Kropp in the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Education Department at (520) 883-3034 or e-mail rkropp@desertmuseum.org.

See previous winners here

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