Begin the last month of 2023 by showing a little faith in your poetry: Submit to the inaugural Watchword Prize from Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy & Technology by December 1. The author of the winning poem will receive $2,000, publication on the center’s website, and an invitation to read at the Color of Surveillance conference.
Using the online submission form, submit up to three poems for consideration on the broad theme of surveillance. There is no entry fee, and poet Carolyn Forché will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
As technology enables governments and corporations to more easily and frequently monitor individuals, the Center on Privacy & Technology advocates for legal polices to protect privacy rights. The center launched the Watchword Prize to engage poets in thinking about what it means to be surveilled and the consequences for a society that keeps such close tabs on its people. “Artists and poets have a deeply-rooted tradition of participation in movements for social change, and we want to help foster and inspire the production of new works of art that evoke and critique experiences and practices of surveillance,” says a statement on the center’s website explaining the impetus for the prize.