It's time to vote!
We thank all the poets, NAMI NJ friends and families for getting those amazing poems to us for the 2020 NAMI NJ Dara Axelrod Expressive Arts Mental Health Poetry Contest! This year's theme is "battling our challenges with superpowers."

We received many worthy entries. After many rounds of careful reading, the Top Ten Poems are finally selected. The judging criteria consisted of:
  • Using the theme of mental health
  • The way the subject matter was handled
  • Originality
  • Style

NAMI NJ members and friends are now called on to vote online and help us pick the Top Three Poems. Support our poets and cast your vote by Sunday, May 31, 2020. All poems entered into the contest will be showcased on NAMI NJ's Poetry Corner webpage in the coming months. Thank you for your participation. Enjoy the poems!
(Listed in alphabetical order by poem name;
author names are temporarily omitted for fair voting.)












Congratulations to the ten poets!

Anyone can vote! Each individual can cast only one vote.
April is the National Poetry Month and May is Mental Health Awareness Month. NAMI New Jersey inaugurated the Annual NAMI NJ Dara Axelrod Expressive Arts Mental Health Poetry Contest in April 2014 with enthusiastic response from our community.   View previous contests
NAMI New Jersey Dara Axelrod Expressive Arts Network
Jacquese Armstrong, Coordinator