We’re thrilled to celebrate six incredible years of poetry, creativity, and community with the announcement of our Sixth Chapter Poetry Writing Contest winners! 🏆 This year’s contest brought in powerful poems and passionate voices from across the country, and your votes helped us select the standout entries.
Congratulations to our three grand prize winners… chosen by popular vote! Your words inspired us, and your talent truly lit up our sixth anniversary celebration. A round of applause for our ten runner-up winners as well! Each of you will receive a special gift: the Little Infinite 90-Day Poetry for Life Journal—a space to keep your creativity flowing all year long.
Thank you to everyone who submitted, shared, and voted. You’ve helped us make this milestone year unforgettable.
Keep writing. Keep inspiring. Here’s to Chapter Seven! 🥂
🥇🎉1ST PLACE WINNER: Kayla Lee
Goodbye Overachiever
An unfamiliar, all-white room—sterile, yet strangely dark.
Tubes and needles drain what’s left of my hope.
Tears blur the future I once believed in.
Furrowed brows and screams fracture my identity.
The academic overachiever waves goodbye.
This is no classroom—it’s a dreadful cell.
Chained to a bed—where is my escape?
Wooden desks are gone.
The world loomed large around me,
and I was just a small doll on display,
posed to please, trapped in a cage I didn’t build.
Its rules were written long before I arrived:
how to look, how to act—so I followed.
But in months of silent isolation,
I learned to smash those rules.
No more perfect A’s or masks of makeup.
No more borrowed words.
Forget it all—life is hard enough on its own.
Number of Votes: 5,320
🥈🎉 2ND PLACE WINNER: Shirley Blendinger
It would be so easy to rewind my steps,
to lay apologies at your feet.
To move home and stuff my feelings
back into each box I unpack.
Pick up the grocery list, the mail,
and where I left off.
Edit myself each day back into your wife.
Wake up every morning
and unlove myself.
Flip another house
another year
another bout of depression.
I could walk right back in the door
and coexist with the
ghost of myself.
And never grow
or learn…
just bend and break.
I could choose to never give up on us
– just on me.
It would be so easy to take the Path of Least Existence.
Number of Votes: 4,453
🥉🎉 3RD PLACE WINNER: Jackie Norton
The hollow ache
that fills my soul
The realization that I will never be
Wanted
how I want to be
Wanted
I’ll never get the desire
That I crave
Like a human gone without water
For days
I am forgettable
And broken
Like a childhood toy
In your parents attic
Collecting dust
And silently fading away
As new toys
Flow in
with each new day
Number of Votes: 4,198
🏅🎉 RUNNER-UPS
Dara McHill – 3,046 Votes
Clarissa Reiners – 1,344 Votes
Lisa Robbins – 809 Votes
Sage Lune – 781 Votes
Natalie Jackson – 688 Votes
Shakeira Bell – 679 Votes
Robin Hall – 548 Votes
Porchia White – 493 Votes
JD Adkins – 412 Votes
Regina Reed – 390 Votes
ABOUT THE 2025 SIXTH CHAPTER POETRY WRITING CONTEST…
📝 The Prompt:
🗓️ The Dates:
🏆 The Prizes:
- A featured spotlight on littleinfinite.com
- Recognition across our social platforms
- Bragging rights for life
In addition…
- 1st Place will win a $250 Visa Gift Card + Poetry Book Bundle & Journal
- 2nd Place will win a $100 Visa Gift Card + Poetry Book Bundle & Journal
- 3rd Place will win a $50 Visa Gift Card + Poetry Book Bundle & Journal
Plus…
- TEN Runner-ups with the most votes will receive an exclusive 90-Day little infinite Poetry For Life® Poetry Journal!
💫 Why “The Sixth Chapter”:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
little infinite Sixth Chapter Poetry Writing Contest Official Rules
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY
Important: Please read these Official Rules before entering this online promotion (the “Promotion”). By participating in the Promotion, you agree to be bound by these Official Rules and represent that you satisfy all of the eligibility requirements below.
Eligibility: In order to be eligible for entry into the Promotion, you must be: a) a legal resident of the Contiguous US and 18 years or older at the time of entry. Void where prohibited. All entries submitted with the aid of any device capable and with the purpose of generating automatic entries shall not be accepted.
How to Enter:
You will be required to submit online; your poem, legal name, e-mail address and country. In the event of a dispute about the identity of the entrant, entries made online will be declared made by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at time of entry. An authorized account holder is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, online service that is responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address. Eligible poems must be related to the theme. All eligible poems must be 20 lines or fewer.
Upon successful receipt, you will be eligible for a book bundle which includes: (1) I Hope You Remember: Poems on Loving, Longing, and Living By Josie Balka (9781668077108), (1) Poetry Is Not a Luxury: Poems for All Seasons By Multiple Authors (9781668062555), (1) They Will Tell You the World Is Yours: On Little Rebellions and Finding Your Way By Anna Mitchael (9780593735497), and (1) Set Your Intention: A Journal of Lists and Inspiration for Your Beautiful Life By Nicole Lara (9781250389022). The top three (3) winners with the most votes will also receive a Visa Gift Card valued at either $250, $100, or $50, based on their winning placement. Total value of the prize pack is: $651.97 together. To one (3) individuals. Also, (10) runner-up participants with the most votes will receive (1) copy of the 90-Day little infinite Poetry For Life® Poetry Journal. Only one entry per e-mail address per day will be valid.
Failure to submit all required information may result in disqualification. All entrants and entries are subject to verification by us. Entries will not be acknowledged or returned.
By entering the Promotion, you consent to being placed on our e-mail and marketing mailing list, to receive information and other marketing materials from us and for purposes of communicating this promotion status, and for services and offerings of Ingram Content Group.
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Promotion Period:
Promotion Period. Thirteen winners total! Submissions are accepted from Thursday, May 1, 2025, and end acceptance at 11:59 pm Sunday, June 15, 2025. Voting starts Thursday, May 8, 2025, and will remain open to the public until 12:00 am Sunday, June 15, 2025. Winner will be contacted and announced by Friday, June 20, 2025.
Prizes:
Prizes. Winner(s) will be determined by the largest aggregated number of votes at the end of the voting period defined above. The one (3) winners (with the highest number of votes) will receive the following prize: (1) I Hope You Remember: Poems on Loving, Longing, and Living By Josie Balka (9781668077108), (1) Poetry Is Not a Luxury: Poems for All Seasons By Multiple Authors (9781668062555), (1) They Will Tell You the World Is Yours: On Little Rebellions and Finding Your Way By Anna Mitchael (9780593735497), and (1) Set Your Intention: A Journal of Lists and Inspiration for Your Beautiful Life By Nicole Lara (9781250389022). The top three (3) winners with the most votes will also receive a Visa Gift Card valued at either $250, $100, or $50, based on their winning placement. Total value of the prize pack is: $651.97 together. To one (3) individuals. Also, (10) runner-up participants with the most votes will receive (1) copy of the 90-Day little infinite Poetry For Life® Poetry Journal. Only one entry per e-mail address per day will be valid. Winners will be announced via e-mail. To receive a list of winners, please submit a request to us at Ingram Content Group Attn: Promotions/ Marketing 16 Ingram Blvd. LaVergne, TN. 37086. A list of winners will be sent to you upon the end of the Promotional Period.
Odds of Winning; Taxes; Etc. Odds of winning a prize depend on the number of eligible entries received. ALL FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL TAXES ASSOCIATED WITH THE RECEIPT OR USE OF ANY PRIZE ARE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF WINNER. All prizes will be awarded. The prize may be forfeited and awarded to an alternative winner if two (2) attempts to contact winner by e-mail are not successful, or if prize is otherwise not claimed. Prizes are not transferable. No substitutions or exchanges (including for cash) of any prizes will be permitted, except we reserve the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value for any prize. Limit one prize per household or address. All prizes are awarded “AS IS” and WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, express or implied (including, without limitation, any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose).
Representation, Warranties, Rights of Ownership. By entering this Promotion, you grant us the right to display your name as a winner of a prize. You additionally waive all privacy/publicity rights or other legal or moral rights that might preclude our use of your submission, and agree not to sue or assert any claim against us for any such use.
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