Edmonton Cat Fest

Enter the 2025 Edmonton Cat Festival CAT POETRY Contest!

We’re inviting cat lovers to submit cat poems for the Edmonton International Cat Festival Cat Poetry Contest—then read them aloud at the festival on May 31, 2025!

To enter the 2025 Cat Poetry Contest, submit in one of three poetry cat-egories:

– Cat Haikus

– Cat Limericks

– Cat Odes

(Examples below)

You are welcome to submit poems in all three cat-egories, or multiple poems per cat-egory!

Those who submit to the contest are asked to read your poem at the Caturday, May 31, 2025 Edmonton International Cat Festival, on the Main Stage presented by City of Edmonton Animal Care & Control Centre.

The Cat Poetry Contest is part of a Main Stage presentation by author, poet and cat lover Catherine Owen, who will also do a reading from her book Day Cat, Night Cat and read cat poems of her own.

The Cat Poetry session takes place from 2:30-3 p.m. (May 31).

You can also visit Catherine Owen and Day Cat, Night Cat illustrator Jenny Keith at their booth in the Vendor Meowcatplace throughout the festival day to learn more and purr-chase their book!

Fill out this form to submit your poem

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT YOUR POEM: MAY 23, 2025

Why enter the Cat Poetry contest?

Anyone who submits a poem will receive a free ticket to the festival!

Note: Kids 12 and under get free admission to the May 31, 2025 Edmonton Cat Festival.

One winner across all CAT-egories will also be selected for a prize!

Note: if you would like to submit a poem, but unable to read your poem on stage, Catherine Owen will read submitted poems on your behalf (but we encourage you to come read your work!)

THIS CONTEST IS OPEN TO ALL AGES!

WHAT IS A HAIKU?

Haiku are 3 lines of usually un-rhymed words totalling 17 syllables.

The syllable pattern is: 5 on first line, 7 in second line, 5 in the last line.

Cat Haiku Example from Catherine:

Furry wilderness

The domestic cat asleep

Dreams of wilder mice

WHAT IS A LIMERICK?

A limerick features five lines arranged in one stanza.

The first line, second line, and fifth lines rhyme with each other.

The third and fourth lines rhyme with each other.

Cat Limerick Example from Catherine:

There once was a kitten named Boo

Who always knew just what to do

To eat human food

He just had to be rude

Then his owner would feed him his stew

Click here to learn more about writing a limerick

WHAT IS AN ODE?

An ode is a lyrical poem that expresses praise, glorification, or tribute to a person, event, animal, or object. Today’s odes are usually rhyming poems with an irregular meter, although rhyme is not required for a poem to be classified as an ode. They are broken into stanzas (the “paragraphs” of poetry) with 10 lines each, typically consisting of three to five stanzas in total.
For this contest, if you are submitting an ode, we are requesting just one stanza of eight to ten lines.

Cat Ode Example from Catherine:

Ode to a cat from an insomniac

O purrer of night’s engine

Send me to deeper sleep

They told me to drink some wine

They said why don’t you count sheep

But not a thing worked in the end

Until the cat curled on my bed

And after it drank and it fed

O how it became my rest’s friend.

Click here to learn more about writing an ode

Click here to learn more about writing haikus, limericks and odes

Fill out this form to submit your poem

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT YOUR POEM: MAY 23, 2025

ABOUT CATHERINE OWEN

Catherine Owen’s name starts with the word cat! She’s published seventeen collections of poetry and prose including her children’s picture book with Jenny Keith called Day Cat Night Cat. She has four cats that live with her in her 1905 home in Edmonton: Nox, Solstice, El Stevenson and Jeannie Sweatpea.

Day Cat Night Cat is the engaging “tail” of a young boy called Hayden who lives with a single mother on the edge of the city. He has two fantastical companions. When the sun is up, the day cat visits him and they play wild games together. Then, when he grows tired, the day cat vanishes and the night cat mysteriously appears. First, before Hayden falls asleep, then while he dreams, the night cat provides him with comfort, adventures and protection. Until the sun rises, and the cats magically change shifts again.

At the Edmonton Cat Festival on Caturday, May 31, 2025, Catherine Owen, who will also do a reading from her book Day Cat, Night Cat and read cat poems of her own, and facilitate readings of Cat Poetry Contest submissions. Be sure to visit her booth with illustrator Jenny Keith throughout the festival day and pick up copies of their book Day Cat, Night Cat.

ABOUT JENNY KEITH

Jenny Keith is a contemporary artist based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Keith’s body of work features acrylic and mixed media paintings. Her art has been showcased in galleries, corporate spaces and private collections across Canada and internationally. Primarily using acrylic paint, sometimes layered with etched beeswax, she creates vibrant detailed works, frequently with a narrative element. Her subject matter often includes images of animals and nature, humans and abstract perspectives of microscopic biology. She is also the illustrator of “Day Cat, Night Cat”, a charming and whimsical children’s book that was nominated for the Alberta Children’s Book Prize in 2019. To the delight of her 5 year old daughter, she has recently welcomed two rescue kitties named Hagrid and Minerva into her home.

This contest is one of three cat-themed contests running as part of the 2025 Edmonton International Cat Festival!

Click to learn more and enter the Photo Contest

Click to learn more and enter the Student Art Contest

Join us for our Caturday, May 31, 2025 pawty, Alberta’s biggest celebration of cats, cat culture, and cat people, that raises money for cat rescues, in downtown Edmonton. It’s going to be AMEOWZING!

The Edmonton International Cat Festival returns to downtown Edmonton on Caturday, May 31, 2025 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at MacEwan Robbins Learning Centre (10910 104 Ave.) on both the Main Floor and Second Floor, celebrating cats, cat culture and cat people while raising money for cat rescues. It’s an AMEOWZING pawty featuring a ton of CATivities for cat lovers that you don’t want to miss, and it’s all for a good cause! We are not kitten you right meow!!

Since 2014, we have donated $170,000 to local cat rescues while helping thousands of cat lovers come together annually.

100% purr-ceeds are donated to local cat rescues. This year’s rescue recipient is Little Cats Lost (Trap-Neuter-Return) Society!

Tickets:

$15 (online in advance)

$20 (at the door, cash)

Kids 12 and under are FREE!