WHATCOM COUNTY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Nonprofit Whatcom Poetry Series is holding their annual Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest this month. Named for early Bellingham resident Sue Crocker Boynton, she moved to the city in 1906 and spent much of the participating in local organizations while encouraging others to be pursue writing and poetry.

In its 21st year, the contest is open to all Whatcom County residents.

Poems must be previously unpublished, less than 27 lines in length and no more than 55 characters per line.

Whatcom Poetry Series organizer Leslie Wharton says winners from the children’s program and adult program will be chosen after the contest closes at the end of the month. The winner from each division will be awarded a $100 cash prize.

Twenty poems will be chosen out of hundreds of submissions. The selected works will be sent to a local artist for a creative visual interpretation of the pieces with the words incorporated into the works. Those artworks will then be displayed throughout Whatcom County on buses and inside schools and libraries.

The top ten poems selected will also be engraved on plaques installed outside the front of the Bellingham Public Library.

More information on how to submit entries will be available on Whatcom Poetry Series’ website.