THEME: POE

PUB DATE	WEEK	TITLE	SYNOPSIS	THEMES	LINKS TO THIS CONTEST	WINNER	LINKS TO RESULTS OF THIS CONTEST (usually published 2-4 Weeks later)
May 23, 1993	12	HERE, DOGGEREL …	Write a limerick. It must contain one of the following names: "Hillary Rodham Clinton," "Jack Kevorkian," "George Stephanopoulos" or "Bosnia-Herzegovina."	LIM POE	Text file | Contest image
January 23, 1994	47	CAN YOU DO VERSE?	Bad Valentine's Day poetry. Any rhyme scheme, any form of literary dysfunction.	POE	Text file | Contest image
September 18, 1994	79	TERROR-DACTYL	Send us a double dactyl. The first line must be a nonsense phrase of five to seven syllables containing exactly two downbeats. The second line must be a name, in five to seven syllables but only two downbeats. The remaining six lines must contain four to seven syllables and two downbeats each, with Lines 4 and 8 rhyming. Somewhere in the poem, one line must consist of only one word.	POE	Text file | Contest image
March 12, 1995	104	HERE, DOGGEREL	Create poems so bad they thud. The first line must be a name. The second line can be as long or as short as you wish. The third line must sound the same as the first line, using the name as a verb or some other part of speech.	POE	Text file | Contest image
October 8, 1995	134	A SIMPLE CLERIHEW ERROR	Revive clerihews. A clerihew is a biographical poem in four lines divided into two rhyming couplets. The rhyme scheme is aa bb. The first line of the clerihew must contain the name of the subject of the poem. The lines must be of disparate meter, the clunkier the better.	POE	Text file | Contest image
December 10, 1995	143	IT'S MY PARODY (& I'LL TRY IF I WANT TO)	Rewrite any common jingle or theme song in the style of famous writer.	POE	Text file | Contest image
May 19, 1996	166	DOO WAH DOODY	We are looking for really bad lyrics to real rock songs. Your lyrics must be from a reasonably popular song, and you must include the name of the singer or songwriter.	POE MUS	Text file | Contest image
May 26, 1996	167	CRAPSEY	Resurrect the "cinquain," a long-deceased poetic form, poems so ickily precocious and pretentious they make haiku look like Kipling. There are five lines, the first containing two syllables, the second containing four syllables, the third six, the fourth eight and the last, with grave finality and thunderous drama, only two. Your subject matter must be suitable for the 1990s.	POE	Text file | Contest image
June 30, 1996	172	POEDTRY	An entire poetic form, making its global debut in the Style Invitational. The first line must contain only six words of one syllable each; the second line, three words of two syllables each; the third line, two words of three syllables each, and the final line a single word of six syllables. At least two lines must rhyme. The general subject matter should be mundane.	POE	Text file | Contest image
August 18, 1996	179	A CLOCKWORK, UM, UM, ... ER	Write single sentences containing no fewer than three examples of rhyming slang.	POE	Text file | Contest image
September 15, 1996	183	COCKNEY RHYMING SLANG II	Create hawkers' rhymes for modern-day occupations like lobbyists, lawyers, talk show hosts, actuaries, etc., at a maximum of four lines. It must contain at least one rhyme.	POE	Text file | Contest image
February 2, 1997	203	CAN IT GET MUCH VERSE?	Create Very Bad Poetry, containing banalities masquerading as profundities, overstretched metaphors, etc. Special attention should be paid to dreadful syntax and painful rhyme	POE	Text file | Contest image
June 8, 1997	221	SONG SUNG BROWN	Pick any song, pick a well-known line, and give us the discarded first draft. If it is part of a rhyme, you must maintain the rhyme.	POE MUS	Text file | Contest image
November 9, 1997	243	VERSE THAN EVER	Write a rhyming poem of two to eight lines as a tribute to someone famous who died in 1997, the more awful the better. We will particularly value rhymes that thud, and extremes of emotion and sentiment.	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image
May 17, 1998	270	PALINODE--HAVE PUN, WILL TRAVEL	Write a "palinode", retracting something said in an earlier poem. Your poem must be four lines long and contain at least one rhyme.	POE	Text file | Contest image
June 21, 1998	275	THERE ONCE WAS CONTEST FROM NANTUCKET …	Write a limerick in which the first line is about someone who comes from some place in the Washington area.	LIM WAS POE	Text file | Contest image
July 19, 1998	279	TREACLE-DOWN THEORY	Come up with a treacly and deeply moving piece of crap. It must somehow mine joy and goopy inspiration from the vicissitudes of life. It must also rhyme.	POE	Text file | Contest image
October 25, 1998	293	THE VERSE OF AMERICA	Take any story in today's Washington Post and create a poem or song by stringing together various phrases from that story. Each phrase must be a least two words long.	POE	Text file | Contest image
January 31, 1999	307	IF YOU BOYCOTT THIS TASK / YOU WON'T WIN THE FLASK	Come up with rhyming couplets to warn us about the perils of modern life.	POE CUL	Text file | Contest image
February 7, 1999	308	GIVE US NO MO	Write an updated version of those old children's selecting rhymes. Your rhyme must (1) rhyme and (2) conform, at least loosely, to a point-and-shoot cadence that permits the elimination of one item from a group.	POE	Text file | Contest image
March 28, 1999	315	FERMENTING TROUBLE	Write a rhyming poem, eight lines maximum, on the subject of cheese or any of the provided items.	POE	Text file | Contest image
June 6, 1999	325	THE BURMA ROAD	Propose welcoming doggerel for states or cities patterned after Burma Shave signs.	POE	Text file | Contest image
May 14, 2000	349 (XVI)	Orienting Oneself	Produce a haiku using only words found in today's Washington Post. Your entry must have three lines, the first containing exactly five syllables, the second containing exactly seven syllables, the third containing exactly five.	POE	Text file | Contest image
September 3, 2000	365 (XXXII)	Terse Verse	Ask a question and then answer it with a rhyme. Your answer can be as many words as you wish, but all must have the same rhyme.	POE	Text file | Contest image
March 18, 2001	393 (LX)	Things Could Be Verse	Take any story in today's Washington Post and rewrite it into a rhyming poem of no more than eight lines.	POE	Text file | Contest image
October 21, 2001	424 (XCI)	Osama Chanted Evening	Write poems about Osama bin Laden.	POE	Text file | Contest image
March 24, 2002	446 (CXIII)	Poems Where the Heart Is	Take any recent news event and summarize it in a rhyming poem of eight lines or fewer.	POE	Text file | Contest image
May 12, 2002	453 (CXX)	Haiku 2 U2	Write a haiku summarizing the career of any American politician, living or dead. A haiku is generally defined as a nonrhyming poem, of three lines. The first and last lines are five syllables; the middle line is seven.	POE POL	Text file | Contest image
September 8, 2002	470 (CXXXVII)	Czar Har	Take the name of someone famous, rhyme it with a product, and describe the unholy union.	POE	Text file | Contest image
February 23, 2003	494 (CLXI)	Quote-idian	Take any extremely banal piece of familiar writing and rewrite it in the style of a famous writer, poet or lyricist.	LIT POE	Text file
April 27, 2003	503	Doody and Muldoon	Write poetry that out-Muldoons Paul Muldoon, the Princeton professor who won this year's Pulitzer Prize in poetry. Your poem must be a single quatrain, containing at least one rhyme and references to at least two body parts and one geographic name.	POE	Text file
June 8, 2003	509	Be a Real Card	Come up with a greeting card rhyme for an un-greeting-card occasion.	POE	Text file
October 26, 2003	529	United We Stanza	Summarize in four rhyming lines of verse any famous document, theory, principle or speech.	POE	Text file | Contest image
January 4, 2004	539	Dead Letters	Pay tribute in verse to someone who died in 2003.	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image
February 8, 2004	544	You Gotta Have Heart	Write us some valentine sentiments from one particular person (real or fictional) to another.	POE	Text file
July 4, 2004	565	Anthem Is as Anthem Does	Give us a verse for an alternative U.S. national anthem, set to any well-known tune.	POE	Text file
August 8, 2004	570	Timeline Rhyme Lines	Produce colorful chronological couplets about some historical event. They must rhyme and be in good meter.	HIS POE	Text file
August 22, 2004	572	The Limerixicon	Supply a limerick based on any word in the dictionary (except proper nouns) beginning with ai- through ar-.	LIM POE	Text file | Post e-version
August 29, 2004	573	Thine Ad Goest Here	Propose biblical and other literary passages, poems, etc., that could benefit from product placement.	POE REL LIT BUS	Text file
October 31, 2004	582	Perversery Rhymes	Update a nursery rhyme or children's song with an edgier text.	POE	Text file
November 21, 2004	585	It's Parody Time	Offer, in the holiday spirit of goodwill, some advice--as constructive and unifying as Loserly suggestions always are--to our nation's leaders (or the loyal opposition) as we prepare for the next four years. This advice will be set to the tune of some winter holiday song, either religious or secular.	POE	Text file | Post e-version
January 2, 2005	591	Dead Letters	Write rhyming poems about notable personages who have died in the past year.	POE EPI	Text file
April 17, 2005	606	The News Could be Verse	Translate the fine prose of Washington Post articles into verse. Choose any article appearing in The Post of on its Web site from April 17 through April 25.	POE	Text file
July 10, 2005	618	Of D.C. I Sing	Give us a song about Washington, set to a recognizable tune.	POE MUS	Text file
July 17, 2005	619	WordCount Us In	Write a poem of no more than four lines containing four or more consecutive words on the WordCount list. They must occur in the sentence in the order they appear on the list.	POE WOR	Text file
August 21, 2005	624	Limerixicon 2	Supply a limerick based on any word in the dictionary (except proper nouns) beginning with bd- through bl-.	LIM POE	Text file
September 11, 2005	627	Per-Verse	Write a limerick or other short poem with comically awful rhyming.	LIM POE	Text file
November 13, 2005	636	A Song From Tex Arcana	Write a verse of a song about sea urchin sushi or any of the other provided ostensibly unlyrical topics.	POE MUS	Text file
January 1, 2006	643	The Post's Mortems	Give us a rhyming poem about some notable who died in 2005.	POE EPI	Text file
January 15, 2006	645	A Hearty Har Har	Write up a Valentine's sentiment to any personage, or to someone in some generic category.	POE	Text file
February 12, 2006	649	Across the Wide What?	Give us some Virginia-appropriate lyrics for "Shenandoah."	POE MUS	Text file
March 26, 2006	655	Laughing Inside	Take any article appearing in The Washington Post or online on washingtonpost.com from today through April 3 -- the more serious and/or mundane its headline, the better -- and write a funny poem or other passage using only words that appear in that article.	POE	Text file
April 23, 2006	659	Tell Us a Fib	Compose a six-line poem with the following number of syllables per line: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. It must be about a person or topic currently in the news, and two successive lines must rhyme.	POE CUL	Text file
August 6, 2006	674	Limerixicon 3	Supply a humorous limerick based on any word in the dictionary (except proper nouns) beginning with ca-.	LIM LET POE	Text file
August 27, 2006	677	The News Gets Verse	Sum up wittily in verse -- but not a limerick -- any article appearing in The Post or on washingtonpost.com from Aug. 28 through Sept. 4.	POE LIM	Text file
September 3, 2006	678	Limerick Smackdown!	Chris Doyle and Brendan Beary will go head to head in a series of 10 limericks.	LIM POE	Text file
September 24, 2006	681	Ticket to Write	Write a jingle for a business (or its product), organization or government agency, set to a Beatles song.	POE BUS POL MUS	Text file
December 31, 2006	695	Dead Letters	Write a poem about someone who died in 2006.	POE EPI	Text file
June 3, 2007	716	The Hard Spell	Write a humorous poem featuring one of the 75 words we've selected from this year's National Spelling Bee.	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 1, 2007	720	The Course of Humor Events	Sum up a historical event in a two-line rhyme or other clever and pithy epigram.	POE HIS	Text file
July 29, 2007	724	Abridged Too Far	Sum up a book, play or movie in a humorous rhyming verse of two to four lines.	POE LIT MOV	Text file
August 12, 2007	726	Limerixicon 4	Supply a humorous limerick based on any word in the dictionary beginning with cl- through co-.	LIM POE	Text file
October 6, 2007	734	Turnaround Time	Write a rhyming couplet containing two words that are anagrams of each other.	POE ANA	Text file | Post e-version
October 27, 2007	737	No River, No Woods	Send us a funny parody of a well-known song, with lyrics that commemorate an occasion other than Christmas or Hanukkah.	POE HIS	Text file | Post e-version
January 12, 2008	748	Dead Letters	Write a humorous poem about a well-known personage who died in 2007.	POE EPI	Text file | Post e-version
March 22, 2008	757	Gorey Thoughts From A to Z	Send us some rhyming alphabet-primer couplets.	POE LET	Text file
May 17, 2008	765	It's Doo-Dah Day	Write humorous lyrics commemorating any of the 50 states of the District, set to any of these Stephen Foster songs.	POE POL	Text file
August 9, 2008	777	Limerixicon 5	Supply a humorous limerick featuring any English word, name or term beginning with the letters da-.	LIM POE	Text file
October 4, 2008	785	The Ballad Box	Write a short, humorous song somehow relating to the presidential campaign, set to a familiar tune.	POE POL	Text file
January 3, 2009	798	Dead Letters	Write a humorous poem commemorating someone who died in 2008.	POE EPI	Text file
March 14, 2009	808	Take Us At Our Words	Create a humorous poem or other writing using only the words contained in this week's Style Invitational column or results.	POE WOR STY	Text file
June 27, 2009	823	Wryku	Compose a humorous (or at least wry or clever) haiku.	POE	Text file | Contest image
July 11, 2009	825	Disinstrumentals	Write some words to music that has no words.	POE MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 8, 2009	829	Limerixicon 6	Supply a humorous limerick prominently featuring any English word, name or term beginning with the letters di-.	LIM WOR LET POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 14, 2009	843	Prefrains	Provide a sentence or two of lead-in to the first line of a well-known book, poem, or song.	LIT MUS POE	Text file
January 2, 2010	850	Dead letters	Write a humorous poem about someone who died in 2009.	POE EPI	Text file
February 6, 2010	855	The news could be verse	Sum up an article (or even an ad!) in any Washington Post print or online edition from Feb. 6 through Feb. 15 in verse.	POE WAS	Text file
March 27, 2010	862	Be cheerful	Send us a cheer or fight song for any pro sports team or any national team.	POE MUS ATH	Text file | Post e-version
July 3, 2010	876	Oilies but goodies	Write lyrics somehow related to the oil spill, set to an existing tune.	POE MUS	Text file | Post e-version
July 10, 2010	877	Quipped from the headlines	Write a rhyming couplet about some matter in the news.	POE CUL	Text file
August 14, 2010	882	Limerixicon VII	Supply a humorous limerick prominently featuring any English word, name or term beginning with the letters dr-.	LIM LET POE	Text file | Post e-version	Carole Lyons	Text file (pub 9-11-10) Text file (pub 9-25-10)
September 25, 2010	887	Plus-Fours	Write a limerick whose third or fourth line is one of those listed above.	LIM POE	Text file
January 1, 2011	901	Dead Letters	Write a humorous poem about someone who died in 2010.	POE EPI	Text file | Post e-version
May 1, 2011	917	Wryku	Write a haiku--a sentiment that can be broken into three lines with exactly five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, five in the third--on any subject that's been in the news in the last couple of weeks.	POE CUL	Text file
May 29, 2011	921	Give Us Willies	Write an original Little Willie poem, perhaps reflecting our current era. This is a venerable four-line genre in which Master W. does some nasty thing and doesn't tend to learn to be a Good Boy by poem's end.	POE	Text file | Post e-version
June 5, 2011	922	A Banner Week	Write entirely new, humorous lyrics to the tune of “The Star-Spangled Banner”; they can be on any subject.	POE	Text file
July 10, 2011	927	Drive-By Shoutings	Write a very short four-line “poem” promoting a product or company, or offering advice to drivers; the poem must rhyme, in ABAB or ABCB rhyme scheme. A fifth, non-rhyming line may state the product name or a conclusion.	POE BUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 7, 2011	931	Limerixicon 8	Supply a humorous limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with the letters ea- through -el.	LIM POE	Text file | Post e-version
September 4, 2011	935	The 400 blows	Write a humorous poem--choose your form--about the Virginia earthquake, Hurricane Irene or another well-known natural event.	POE CUL	Text file
September 25, 2011	938	Free and Lear	Write a limerick using the first two lines of any of Edward Lear's 115 limericks plus your own remaining three lines.	LIM POE	Text file | Post e-version
January 1, 2012	952	Dead Letters	Write a humorous poem about someone who died in 2011.	POE EPI	Text file
May 6, 2012	970	Couple it	Take a line from any well-known poem and pair it with your own second line to make a humorous couplet.	POE LIT	Text file | Post e-version
June 3, 2012	974	Eat our dust!	Write a limerick humorously describing a book, play, movie, or TV show.	LIM LIT TEL MOV POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Chris Doyle	Text file | Contest image (pub 7-1-12) Text file (pub 8-19-12)
July 1, 2012	978	A reason to rhyme the news	Write a short verse about something that's been in the news recently.	POE CUL	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 5, 2012	982	The parody line	Set your own, humorous words to the tune of a well-known song--except that you must preserve one of the original lines.	POE MUS	Text file | Post e-version
August 12, 2012	983	Limerixicon IX	Supply a humorous limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with the letters "eq-" through "ez-".	LIM LET POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 21, 2012	993	Versus, verses	Write a short "rap battle" between any two characters, real or fictional.	POE	Text file
January 6, 2013	1004	Dead letters	Write a humorous poem about anyone who died in 2012.	POE EPI	Text file | Post e-version	Robert Schechter Nan Reiner	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 10, 2013	1012	The news at 5	Write a limerick about a recent news event.	LIM CUL POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 26, 2013	1023	Hai there, Martians!	Write one or more humorous haiku that will greet the Martians or share a little nugget of what life is like on Earth.	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 2, 2013	1024	Gorey thoughts	Send us some edgy rhyming alphabet-primer couplets. The pairs are AB, CD, EF, GH, IJ, KL, MN, OP, QR, ST, UV, WX, and YZ.	LET POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 14, 2013	1029	Ditty Harry	Write a descriptive theme song for a well-known movie, set to a well-known tune.	MOV MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 21, 2013	1030	The cinquain feeling	Write a clever cinquain. The five-line form is straightforward: first line, two syllables; second line, four syllables; third line, six; fourth line, eight; fifth line, two.	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 11, 2013	1033	LimeriXicon	Supply a humorous limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "fa-".	LIM POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 22, 2013	1039	Shookespeare	Combine any of the words in Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" soliloquy, in any order, to create a humorous sentence or longer passage.	WOR POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 5, 2014	1054	Dead letters	Write a short, humorous poem commemorating someone (or maybe even something) who died in 2013.	EPI POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 2, 2014	1062	Scanning the headlines	Write a rhyming poem about something currently in the news.	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Chris Doyle	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 3-30-14) Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 4-27-14)
April 27, 2014	1069	It's a small, small world	Write a humorous poem of no more than eight lines -- it doesn't have to rhyme -- using only the top 1,000 words on Wiktionary.org's list of the most common among 20 million words found in movie and TV scripts.	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 1, 2014	1074	Let's go parody-hopping	Describe a stage or movie musical in a parody of a song from a different musical.	POE MOV	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 6, 2014	1079	Little piddle riddle	Ask a question and answer it with a rhyme.	POE QUE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 13, 2014	1080	McGonagall with the windiness	Memorialize a modern "tragedy" in a poem burdened with hilariously overwrought verse; lame, forced rhymes; and painfully uneven meter. Get the badness across in one verse of no more than eight lines. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 10, 2014	1084	Limerixicon XI: Fi-, fo-, go!	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "Fl-" through "fo-". (Conversational text)	LIM POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 21, 2014	1090	Talk undirty to us	Write a humorous poem in any form (no more than eight lines) that includes one or more of the provided words; the word must make sense in the poem in its TRUE meaning. (Conversational text)	WOR POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 26, 2014	1095	TankaWanka!	Write a TankaWanka about something that's been in the news lately. The poem must consist of five lines of 5, 7, 5, 7 and 7 syllables in that order. And it must include at least one rhyme. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 4, 2015	1105	A lit obit of fun	Write a humorous poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2014. (Conversational text)	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 25, 2015	1108	Hearts of dorkness	Write a humorous Valentine's Day sentiment to someone (or to some organization), either real or fictional -- either from you or from someone else you name. Plus an all-new option: We'll also be willing to run at least one really funny, clever, well-executed graphic. (Conversational text)	POE ART	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 1, 2015	1113	Our occasional parodies	Write a song celebrating someone's birthday or other personal occasion (rather than, say, a holiday), set to a familiar tune. (Conversational text)	MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 17, 2015	1124	Heed! Indeed: Advice verse	Write one of the provided reminders as a humorous poem of eight lines or fewer.	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 21, 2015	1129	Right in the pampootie	Write a humorous short poem (eight lines or fewer) incorporating one of the 50 provided words. (Conversational text)	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 19, 2015	1133	Are 'hew ready? A contest for clerihews	A clerihew is a humorous four-line rhyming poem about a person whose name is mentioned in the first line; in fact, the name must be at the end of that line (or constitute the whole line) so that it has to rhyme with something. The rhyme structure (and we don't want "lazy" rhymes) is AABB: the first line rhymes with the second, the third with the fourth. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 16, 2015	1136	Gaah! It's Limerixicon XII	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "ga-". (Conversational text)	POE LIM	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 8, 2015	1148	It's TankaWanka II	Write a TankaWanka about something that's been in the news lately. The poem must consist of five lines of 5, 7, 5, 7 and 7 syllables in that order. And it must include at least one rhyme. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 20, 2015	1154	Tabby Road -- songs for cats	Write a song for -- or about -- cats or other animals, set to a familiar tune. (Conversational text)	MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 3, 2016	1156	Dead letters	Write a humorous poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2015. (Conversational text)	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 17, 2016	1171	What's my (next) line?	Take a line from any song and pair it with your own second line to make a humorous rhyming couplet; the second line should match the rhythm of the first, rather than the second line of the song itself. (Conversational text)	MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 26, 2016	1181	Put it in Bee-verse	Write a short, humorous poem using one of the 36 provided words, all from the 2016 National Spelling Bee. (Conversational text)	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 31, 2016	1186	We're always happy to verse you	Write a humorous poem, of any form, about or “by” the anagram of anyone’s name.	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 21, 2016	1189	Gee, it's Limerixicon XIII!	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "ge". (Conversational text)	LIM POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 18, 2016	1193	Poedtry	Write a Poed, which consists of four lines: The first line contains six one-syllable words. The second line contains three two-syllable words. The third line contains two three-syllable words. The fourth line contains one six-syllable word (or a name totaling six syllables.  And at least two of the lines must rhyme. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 20, 2016	1202	Don't be afraid of the dark	Write lyrics to a song that, in some way, express hope. (Conversational text)	POE MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 1, 2017	1208	A RIP-roaring year: Obit poems	Write a humorous poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2016. (Conversational text)	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 5, 2017	1213	Punku	Write a haiku that incorporates a pun.	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 19, 2017	1219	Cast your Bred upon us	Write a Lik the Bred verse about someone in the news lately. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	David "Charlestown" Lewis	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 28, 2017	1229	Gorey bits from A to Z	Send us one of more edgy rhyming alphabet-primer couplets. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 11, 2017	1231	TankaWanka 3: Haiku Plus Tu	Write a TankaWanka about something that's been in the news lately. The poem must consist of five lines of 5, 7, 5, 7 and 7 syllables in that order. And at least two of the lines must rhyme. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 9, 2017	1235	The Sound of Science	Write humorous lyrics on the subject of science or technology, set to a well-known tune. (Conversational text)	POE SCI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 13, 2017	1240	We GIVE you Limerixicon XIV	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "gh-" or "gi-". (Conversational text)	LIM POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 22, 2017	1250	Poems of the year(s)	Write a humorous poem incorporating three or more terms from a particular year or era listed on Time Traveler. (Conversational text)	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 7, 2018	1261	Post mortems -- our annual obit poem contest	Write a humorous poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2017. (Conversational text)	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 4, 2018	1265	Parody for the course	Write a song relating to a class or course of instruction, or to school in general. (Conversational text)	MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 11, 2018	1270	The Style Invitational turns 5 x 5	Write a witty poem, on any subject, in any of these forms: A. Five lines of five syllables each B. Five lines of five words each C. Five lines of iambic pentameter (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Frank Osen	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 22, 2018	1276	What 4? A limerick contest	Use a limerick using one of the provided lines as Line 5.	LIM POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 10, 2018	1283	Put it in Bee-verse	Write a humorous poem of eight lines or fewer that includes one of the provided words, all from the 2018 National Spelling Bee. (Conversational text)	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 8, 2018	1287	It's parody time: Oldies for newsies	Write some song lyrics about something in the news these days, set to a familiar tune. (Conversational text)	MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 12, 2018	1292	Golly gosh, it's Limerixicon XV	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term, beginning with "gl-" through "go-". (Conversational text)	LIM POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 9, 2018	1296	A, we're Adorbs: New-word poems	Use one or more of these words new to M-W.com in a humorous poem of eight lines max. (Conversational text)	WOR POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 14, 2018	1301	Tell us a Fib(onacci)	Write a humorous poem of 20 syllables divided among six lines like this: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. And a least two -- any two -- of the lines must rhyme. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 6, 2019	1313	Dead Letters -- our obit poem contest	Write a poem of no longer than eight lines about someone who died in 2018.	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 3, 2019	1317	Punku 2: Haiku with puns	Create a haiku containing a pun or similar wordplay.	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
May 19, 2019	1332	We'll call them Spellimericks	Write a humorous limerick that's an acrostic: a pertinent five-letter word or name spelled out by the first letter of each line.	LIM LET POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 9, 2019	1335	Put it in bee-verse! Or . . .	Write a humorous poem of eight lines or fewer that includes at least one of the provided words, used in Round 9 or later of this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee; OR: write a joke in Q&A form that uses at least one of the words.	WOR POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version		Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 7, 2019	1339	Songs for a modern error	Write humorous lyrics about some modern woe, set to a familiar tune. (Conversational text)	POE MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Duncan Stevens	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 8-4-19) Text file | Contest image | Post e-version (pub 9-1-19)
August 11, 2019	1344	Well, that's just great -- It’s Limerixicon XVI	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "gr-".	LIM LET WOR POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 22, 2019	1350	Here's inspo for new-word poems	Write a poem of eight lines or fewer featuring one or more of these recent additions to m-w.com.	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 5, 2020	1365	Dead Letters, our obit poem contest	Write a poem of eight lines or fewer (plus an optional title) about someone who died in 2019. (Conversational text)	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 23, 2020	1372	Trash talking, 1880-style	Write a quatrain or -- heck -- two of Balliol rhyme about some person. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Nan Reiner	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 8, 2020	1374	Versus' verses in a rap battle	Write a mini-"rap" between any two characters, real or fictional, as in the provided ERB example. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Gary Crockett	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 21, 2020	1389	TankaWanka 4: Haiku plus tu	Write a TankaWanka about something that's been in the news lately. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
August 9, 2020	1396	Hail Limerixicon XVII: Write a limerick featuring a 'ha-' word	Supply a humorous, previously unpublished limerick significantly featuring any English word, name or term beginning with "ha-". (Conversational text) (Limerick Guide)	LIM POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 13, 2020	1401	How hai? A joke-haiku contest	Write a joke (roughly) in the "It's so xxx" genre as a haiku. (Conversational text)	POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 18, 2020	1406	The news could be verse	Write a poem based on a recent news article, in which the lines' first letters spell out the title or subject of the poem. (Conversational text)	POE LET	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 8, 2020	1409	Skip a groove: Drop a letter or more from a song title	Drop one or more letters from somewhere in the middle of a song title and describe the new song, and/or quote some lyrics from it.	LET POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
November 29, 2020	1412	Jumble bells -- anagram a song line	Rearrange all the letters in a song title, or a line (or more if you dare!) from a song. Optional: Offer a parody of the original tune (or a few lines of it) that refers to the new title. (Conversational text)	LET MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
December 6, 2020	1413	We're finna give you some new words	Write a poem of eight lines or fewer featuring one or more of the provided terms. The terms must be used as they're defined in the new m-w.com listing. (Conversational text)	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 3, 2021	1417	Dead Letters, our obit poem contest	Write a poem of no longer than eight lines (plus an optional title) about someone who died in 2020. (Conversational text)	EPI POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 24, 2021	1420	Singing on the job -- a parody contest	Write a humorous "work song" for any job or profession. Set it to any well-known tune. (Conversational text)	MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
April 18, 2021	1432	Turn tale and run with it	Offer a new angle on a folk tale, nursery rhyme, children's song, etc., with a short poem, mini-story (under 100 words) or song parody. (Conversational text)	POE MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
June 13, 2021	1440	It's parody time!	Write a satiric song about anything in the news these days. (Conversational text)	POE MUS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
July 18, 2021	1445	Put it in bee-verse -- poems with spelling words	Write a humorous poem of eight lines or fewer that includes at least one of the words used in Round 8 or later of this year's bee; OR: write a joke in Q&A form that uses at least one of the words. (Conversational text)	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
September 19, 2021	1454	Punku 3 -- haiku with a pun	Create a haiku containing a pun or similar wordplay.	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 24, 2021	1459	And we quote: 'It's Parody Time'	Write humorous first-person lyrics for a song "by" some particular person. (Conversational text)	MUS POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
October 31, 2021	1460	These new words are on fleek	From the provided list, write a humorous poem of eight lines or fewer. (Conversational text)	WOR POE	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
January 2, 2022	1469	Post Mortems 2021, our obit poems	Write a poem of no longer than eight lines (plus an optional title) about someone who died in 2021. (Conversational text)	POE EPI	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
February 13, 2022	1475	Hail to the Commanders!	Write a song (set to any familiar tune) or shouted cheer for the Washington Commanders. OR: Write for any other D.C. institution, e.g., the Metro, the Senate, the National Zoo, The Washington Post. (Conversational text)	MUS POE WAS	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version	Jeff Shirley	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
March 6, 2022	1478	It's a small, small world	Write a humorous poem, eight lines max, using only words from the provided list of 1,000 most common English words. (Conversational text)	POE WOR	Text file | Contest image | Post e-version
YEAR 31 BEGINS