Put pen to paper and enter your imaginative and inspiring poetry in the Indiana Nature Poetry Contest, which runs through Sept. 30.

Local poet Stacy Smith has organized the poetry contest with an added bonus--winning poems will be published in the small book Poetic Nature in the Hoosierland, from which all royalties will go directly to Mounds State Park.

"This is an amazing project that Stacy has put together," said Angie Manuel, park interpreter. "Stacy has put her love of poetry and her love of nature into a fund-raising project for Mounds State Park."

Smith has already published similar small books, called chapbooks, benefiting the Rescü Haus Raptor Rehab Center in Yorktown and other non-profit missions.

Poems must be about the natural world and written by Hoosiers. Poems must be no longer than 40 lines. There is no limit to the number of entries a person can submit. An entry fee of $1 per poem is required to defer the cost of publication.

Prizes include: first place, $40, a Mounds State Park T-shirt, and publication in chapbook; second place, $25 and publication in chapbook; third place, $10 and publication in chapbook; and honorable mentions, publication in chapbook. Authors of the top 20 poems will receive a complimentary copy of the chapbook.

For a list of all contest rules or for more information, please call (765) 649-8128.

Media Contact:
Angie Manuel, interpretive naturalist, Mounds State Park, (765) 649-8128