Jaileen Panger and Peace of Mind Pet Sitting are sponsoring the first annual Pet Poetry Contest.

All poems must relate to pets. The pets may be living or deceased, or even imaginary pets, but the poems must be about a pet or pets.

The contest began midnight April 1 and continues for the entire month; deadline is midnight April 30. Poems will be submitted online only, at www.peaceofmindsitter.com. Winners will be notified by phone and e-mail on or before May 19.

Peace of Mind Pet Sitting will award prizes. A panel of judges has been chosen to score the contest.

The contest also features an evening of poetry, in which all entrants will be encouraged to participate if they wish. The first- and second-place winners are the only entrants required to read their poems to each claim their prize. Winners and all other entries that have given permission to publish will be archived and available online following the contest for all to see on May 19.

To be declared a winner and collect their prize, entrants must read their winning poem at the Doctor’s Office, 85 Front St. from 6-8 p.m. on May 21.

“With National Poetry Month beginning April 1, I thought it would be fun to let people’s pets inspire them to write poetry,” Panger said. “I’ve been pet sitting here on the island for almost 15 years now, and this has been a hard winter for a lot of folks. We thought we should do something fun for this Spring, and celebrate our pets through poetry.”

Resources for poetry may be found at www.poets.org and the San Juan Island Library.