If you’re a poet who has ever found yourself drawn to the figure of Jesus of Nazareth – whether in faith, doubt, curiosity, or outright resistance – Wayfare magazine has a contest with your name on it.
The inaugural ‘Behold the Man!’ poetry contest is open now, with submissions accepted until 29 March 2026 (Palm Sunday, fittingly). The prize pool is generous, with honorable mentions also published in Wayfare.
What makes this contest particularly interesting is the scope of the invitation itself. Wayfare is explicitly seeking poems from any faith tradition – or none. The subject is Jesus of Nazareth, but the angle of approach is entirely yours. Skeptic, believer, agnostic, curious outsider – all are welcome, provided the poem engages its subject with freshness and genuine thought rather than settling for easy praise or easy dismissal.
The reference poems cited in the contest announcement give a sense of the range they’re after: Gerard Manley Hopkins’s rapturous devotion, Mary Oliver’s tender human sympathy, James Wright’s moral ambiguity, Anne Sexton’s anguished wrestling. These are poems that take a stance, feel something, and refuse to look away. That’s the company this contest wants to keep.
A few practical notes: you may submit up to two poems, each no longer than 50 lines (or 300 words for prose poems). Judging is blind. Simultaneous submissions are fine. Poems must be unpublished and entirely human-written.
Full guidelines and the submission form are available here.
Art/s and Theology Australia 