Paper Gardens is an annual creative writing contest sponsored by the Arts Alliance of Yamhill County, Oregon. Writers who live, work or go to school in Yamhill County are invited to submit original poetry or prose. Prose categories are fiction or creative non-fiction. Poetry categories are traditional, free verse, haiku/tanka, and poetry of place-Oregon.
The 2027 judges are Joe Wilkins for prose and Annie Lighthart for poetry. Judges' selections are published in the Paper Gardens anthology. All published writers receive a copy of the book and are recognized at the book release celebration hosted by the Chehalem Cultural Center.
Upcoming Submission Window: October 16, 2026 - December 14, 2026
Book Release Celebration: 7pm, March 10, 2027
How To Submit (click appropriate link below):
AI Policy:
Paper Gardens exists to amplify and celebrate the human-generated words and works created by those living, working, or going to school in Yamhill County. Therefore, we have a zero tolerance policy on generative AI tools (ex. ChatGPT). This means we will never use these tools in our work, including our judging process, anthology development, or communications. This also means that we do not accept entries developed, written, edited, or assisted by these tools.
History:
Paper Gardens began publishing in 1993 with William Stafford as the first Paper Gardens Judge. Ursula Le Guinn, Brian Doyle, Joe Wilkins, Kim Stafford as well as other Oregon Poet Laureates and Oregon Book Award Finalists have judged previous anthologies.
Funding partners have included The Arts Alliance, the Chehalem Cultural Center, the Kinsman Foundation, 99 GAL Friends/the Give A Little Foundation, library, book and writing groups, community businesses and individuals, the Yamhill County Cultural Coalition and the Oregon Cultural Trust.
Who can submit: Student writers, third to twelfth grade, who live or study in Yamhill County.
Prose categories: Fiction or Creative Non-fiction.
Poetry categories: Traditional, Free verse, Haiku/Tanka, and Poetry of place-Oregon.
Paper Gardens will only accept submissions that follow these guidelines:
- Title at the top of each entry but not your name.
- Font: Times New Roman, 12 point, black.
- Only .doc or .docx files will be accepted.
- The file name should be the title of the entry—no personal information. Example: rosesarered.docx.
- Limits: up to 1000 words for prose. Up to 40 lines for poetry.
- Developed, written, and edited with zero assistance from generative AI (ex. ChatGPT).
- Non-English entries must be accompanied by an English translation.
- Entry must not be previously published.
Students: No entry fee, up to 4 submissions per author, prose and/or poetry. Each submission is 1 prose piece or 1 poem.
When creating the Submittable account, use teacher, parent or personal email, not the student's school email.
Who can submit: Adult writers who live, work or study in Yamhill County.
Prose categories: Fiction or Creative Non-fiction.
Poetry categories: Traditional, Free verse, Haiku/Tanka, and Poetry of place-Oregon.
Paper Gardens will only accept submissions that follow these guidelines:
- Title at the top of each entry but not your name.
- Font: Times New Roman, 12 point, black.
- Only .doc or .docx files will be accepted.
- The file name should be the title of the entry—no personal information. Example: rosesarered.docx.
- Limits: up to 1000 words for prose. Up to 40 lines for poetry.
- Developed, written, and edited with zero assistance from generative AI (ex. ChatGPT).
- Non-English entries must be accompanied by an English translation.
- Entry must not be previously published.
Adults: $4 entry fee for 1 poem or 1 prose submission. Up to 4 submissions per author, prose and/or poetry, one file per submission.