Welcome to the Center for Interfaith Relations' Submittable page! From here, you are able to submit your entries for our Poetry of the Sacred, Young Authors Sacred Essays, and Community Sacred Essays contests.
For over fiftenn years, the Poetry of the Sacred contest has received thousands of submissions touching every aspect of spiritual life. Poetry has been called ‘the language of the soul’ and this annual contest encourages poets to awaken the reader to the deep meaning and beauty of a contemplative life. Poems are evaluated based on literary excellence, authenticity and spiritual tenor.
We have since then expanded our scope into short essays, as well. The growing Young Authors Sacred Essays contest solicits short written pieces from the next generation of communities across the country. For this contest, we seek the insight of teenagers and young adults on pressing social issues and relationships with faith.
Young Creators Sacred Arts Contest
Courage takes many forms--justice, love, security. The Center for Interfaith Relations invites students at Fern Creek High School to explore the courage you see in your community, culture, religion, family, and friends, as well as the courage you feel is needed in this moment. Consider how your community defines courage and how that definition came to be. Where do you find the inspiration to take courageous action, and what does that look like? The Center for Interfaith Relations encourages students to explore this from a lens of faith or spirituality if they feel comfortable doing so but is not required.
Entrants are encouraged to submit works in the following mediums:
- Short film
- Written works, including poetry, prose, and essays
- Visual artworks, both physical and digital, including paintings, photography, sculptures, and digital renderings
- Mixed media
The Center for Interfaith Relations will award one Grand Prize of $300, as well as up to three honorable mention awards of $100. Selected pieces will be featured at the Festival of Faiths, November 11-13, with the Grand Prize winner invited to present their project at the festival. Grand Prize winner and honorable mentions will receive full-access passes to the Festival of Faiths.
The contest will be open for submissions from May 18, 2026 through June 29, 2026.
Please send questions to contest@interfaithrelations.org.
Contest Rules
- Essay and prose submissions must be between 250 and 1500 words. Submissions should be double spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font, with no headers or footers.
- Poem submissions must be below 1000 words.
- Film submissions must be between 3 and 10 minutes.
- Submissions of traditional art, including paintings and sculptures, must be submitted via photo. Ensure that images of the work are high resolution and are taken from multiple angles, if applicable.
- Deadline to submit is June 29, 2026 at 11:59PM EST. Please note that Center for Interfaith Relations staff may be unable to assist with submissions past 5:00PM EST on the final day for submissions.
- Submissions must be previously unpublished and original.
- One (1) Grand Prize winner will be awarded a prize of $300 and a Festival of Faiths pass.
- Up to three (3) honorable mentions will be awarded $100 and a Festival of Faiths pass.
- If accepted for publication, CIR retains the first North American serial rights of the work to publish, produce, reproduce, distribute, and market. All other remaining rights revert to the author upon publication. If the work is published again, we ask for a credit line to indicate that the work first appeared with CIR’s Young Creators Sacred Arts Contest.
- All decisions made by the Center for Interfaith Relations and delegated judges are final.