The Islamic World Organization for Education, Science, and Culture (ICESCO) has announced the launch of the second «Cities of Poems» competition. This year, it is dedicated to Samarkand (Uzbekistan) in celebration of its designation as the Islamic world's Capital of Culture for 2025. Launched annually in conjunction with the naming of the capitals of culture in the Islamic world, this competition aims to revive and promote the relationship between poetry and place, an age-old connection that has inspired many memorable works in both Arabic and global poetry, as noted by ICESCO in a statement. It also seeks to document the poetic and aesthetic aspects of the history and geography of cities, honoring through poetry the symbols and civilizations that have left their mark on the capitals of culture in the Islamic world. Submissions, which can be in Arabic or Uzbek, will be accepted from Friday, August 1, to Wednesday, December 31, 2025. These will be reviewed by a specialized committee made up of ICESCO representatives and prominent poets, who will select three winners. In addition to certificates of recognition, the first-place winner will receive 3,000 US dollars, the second-place winner 2,000 dollars, and the third-place winner 1,000 dollars. ICESCO will also publish a collection of the awarded and distinguished poems that participated in this competition. To be eligible for the prize, candidates must submit a poem adhering to Arabic metrics, whether free or rhymed if written in Arabic, or meeting the metric and aesthetic requirements of Uzbek poetry if written in Uzbek. The poem should draw inspiration from the values, aesthetics, history, geography, and spirit of the place, as well as the biography of the city of Samarkand, and must not exceed thirty verses or poetic lines in length. Poets from Islamic countries, regardless of age, are invited to participate in this competition via the link https://icesco.org/fr/concours-des-villes-de-poesie.
