Since 2010, Belmont has sponsored a poetry contest for Metro Nashville Public School Elementary School students. In 2018 for the first time, we sponsored a poetry contest for Metro Nashville Public School Middle School students.
2023's contests, "Favorite Character" Elementary School and "Earth Appreciation" Middle School Contests, were open to students at MNPS elementary and middle schools respectively.
Students submitted poems based on this year's themes and the top 5 from each contest were selected by the Belmont English Club. Each poet finalist worked with local professional songwriters to set their poem to music.
The First Place winners in each contest received $500, split evenly between the poet and their teacher for their classroom. Second Place winners received $300, Third Place winners received $200, and Fourth and Fifth Place winners each received $100, all prizes being equally shared by the poets and their teachers for the classroom.