Rattle: Poetry Prize 2020

Rattle Poetry Prize: $15,000 for a single poem. Deadline: July 15th.

The 2020 Rattle Poetry Prize is open for submissions until July 15. Please see the website for full guidelines.

DEADLINE: July 15, 2020

ELIGIBILITY: Open to all writers worldwide. Poems must be written primarily in English. Simultaneous submissions allowed.

FEE: $25 (includes one-year subscription to Rattle).

PRIZE: One winner: $15,000 and publication; 10 finalists: $500 and publication; one Reader’s Choice Award: $5,000. Other submissions may be chosen for publication.

WHAT TO ENTER: Up to four poems per entry. No line or style limit. Multiple entries allowed.

HOW TO ENTER: Via Submittable or by post (US only).

NPR Seeks Sports Inspired Poetry

NPR wants to read how sports has touched your life — in poetry form.

NPR Muse-Feed

Maybe a home run is like getting your dream job – or asking your sweetheart for a first date felt like a Hail Mary pass. Maybe you find inspiration in E. Ethelbert Miller’s poem, If God Invented Baseball — or NPR’s poet-in-residence Kwame Alexander’s basketball poem, The Show.

You can use sport as a metaphor for our lives — or simply write about the game or team you love. And don’t feel constrained by poetry type. It can be a haiku, a sonnet, a rhyming couplet — even free verse.

Find details here and share your sports-inspired poem by following this link and it could be featured in an upcoming Morning Edition segment with Alexander. Deadline: 11/15.

Rattle Poetry Prize

Rattle Poetry PrizeDeadline: July 15, 2018

Prize: $10,000 and publication in the winter edition of the magazine. Ten finalists will also receive $200 each and publication, and be eligible for the $2,000 Readers’ Choice Award, to be selected by subscriber and entrant vote.

Entry: Submittable or hardcopy. $25 fee (includes one-year subscription).

Eligibility: Open to writers, worldwide; poems must be written in English (no translations). No previously published works, or works accepted for publication elsewhere.

Continue reading “Rattle Poetry Prize”

Narrative Magazine’s Tenth Annual Poetry Contest

Narrative Magazine Poetry Contest

Deadline: July 15, 2018
Prize: First Prize is $1,500, Second Prize is $750, Third Prize is $300, and up to ten finalists will receive $75 each. All entries will be considered for publication. All contest entries are eligible for the $4,000 Narrative Prize and for acceptance as a Poem of the Week.
Entry: Online submissions only. There is a $26 fee for each entry. With your entry, you’ll receive three months of complimentary access to Narrative Backstage.
Judging: The contest will be judged by the editors of the magazine. Winners and finalists will be announced to the public by September 30, 2018. All writers who enter will be notified by email of the judges’ decisions. The judges reserve the option to declare ties and to designate and award only as many winners and/or finalists as are appropriate to the quality of contest entries and of work represented in the magazine.

Narrative Magazine Poetry ContestPoetry Contest Submission Guidelines:

Submissions may contain up to five poems. Your submission should give a strong sense of your style and range. We accept submissions of all poetic forms and genres but do not accept translations.

Continue reading “Narrative Magazine’s Tenth Annual Poetry Contest”

Vice-Chancellor’s Poetry Prize

Poetry PrizeDeadline: June 30, 2017
Entry Fee: $26
Prize: $15,000 & eBook Publication
Email: vcpoetryprize@canberra.edu.au
Website: http://www.canberra.edu.au/vcpoetryprize

University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize

The 2017 University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize will be open for entries from 2 December 2016 to 30 June 2017. Final Judge: Billy Collins

ENTER HERE

About the Prize

The University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize has been offered annually since 2014. On behalf of the University, this is administered by the International Poetry Studies Institute (IPSI), part of the Centre for Creative and Cultural Research in the Faculty of Arts and Design.

The prize celebrates the enduring significance of poetry to cultures everywhere in the world, and its ongoing and often seminal importance to world literatures. It marks the University of Canberra’s commitment to creativity and imagination in all that it does, and builds on the work of the International Poetry Studies Institute in identifying poetry as a highly resilient and sophisticated human activity. It also builds on the activities of the Centre for Creative and Cultural Research, which conducts wide-ranging research into human creativity and culture.

The 2017 prize will be announced in September 2017 and prize winners and short-list will be notified prior to that.

Important details are:

  • The winner will receive AUD$15,000
  • The runner-up (second-placed poem) will receive AUD$5,000
  • Four additional poems will be short-listed
  • All poems entered for the prize will be single poems that have a maximum length of 50 lines (see the Conditions of Entry for further details)
  • Each entry of a poem will cost AUD$15 if submitted by 11:59pm GMT, 28 February 2017 and AUD$20 if submitted between 1 March and 30 June 2017. There are discounts for students.
  • Judges
  • Full Conditions of Entry
  • How to Enter page

Continue reading “Vice-Chancellor’s Poetry Prize”

Young Poets Network “Melting Ice” Contest

Young Poets NetworkMelting Ice” Poetry Contest

Young Poets Network has teamed up with the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, to present you with a challenge to write about the changing face of the Polar Regions.
  • Open to poets aged 25 and under, from all over the world.
  • You can send a page poem written down, or a performance poem as a video or as an audio file.
  • Send as many poems as you like.
  • If you are sending a written version of your poem, please include it in the body of an email.
  • If you are sending a video or audio file, please attach it to the email (making sure it’s no bigger than 4MB or it won’t come through) or send us a link to where we can see/hear it.
  • Send your poems to educationadmin@poetrysociety.org.ukwith your name, age & address.
  • By entering, you give permission for Young Poets Network and The Maritime Museum to reproduce your poem in print and online, though copyright remains with you.
  • The deadline is Sunday 30 June 2017 (U.K. time).

Continue reading “Young Poets Network “Melting Ice” Contest”

Cultural Center of Cape Cod Poetry Competition

Cultural Center of Cape CodPrize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $15
Deadline: 6/19/17
Genre: Poetry
Website: http://www.cultural-center.org/

11th Annual National & Regional Poetry Competition

The Cultural Center of Cape Cod will award a National Prize of $1000  for a single, unpublished poem that has not won 1st prize in any national competition. Open to all U.S. residents 18 years & older. A Regional Prize of $250 will be awarded for a single, unpublished poem (that has not won 1st prize in any national competition) by an adult resident of Cape Cod, Nantucket, or Martha’s Vineyard. All Cape and Islands poets are also eligible for the National Award. A committee will judge.

General Guidelines

Submit up to three poems of any style or subject totaling no more than five pages with an entry fee of $15 by June 19, 2017 (postmark).

All entries should be typewritten on plain, white paper. The poet’s name should not appear on any page except the cover page, which should include name, address, phone number, and email address, the titles of the poems submitted, and a brief bio.

Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but please notify immediately if submissions are accepted for publication elsewhere.

Manuscripts will not be returned.

Winners will be notified and their names posted on the Cultural Center’s web site by September 2017. No other notification will be made.

Make checks payable to Cultural Center of Cape Cod. Mail submissions to Poetry Competition, Cultural Center of Cape Cod, 307 Old Main St., South Yarmouth, MA 02664

For more information, contact Associate Director Lauren Wolk at lwolk@cultural-center.org

PAST WINNERS:

The Cultural Center would like to thank all who submitted work to the 2016 National and Regional Poetry Competition. There were many excellent poems from which our committee of eight readers could choose only two:

2016 National Winner of the Cultural Center poetry Competition is Angela Patten, of Burlington, Vermont, for Tracks.
2016 Regional Winner is Carole A. Stasiowski of Cotuit, Massachusetts, for Why the Cat Has Not Died.

Finalists:
J. Lorraine Brown of Mashpee, Massachusetts, for Alone on Sage Lot Pond
Michele Herman of New York, New York, for The Human Condition at the CVS
Heidi Seaborn of Seattle, Washington, for Hypothermia Survival Guide
John Surowiecki of Amston, Connecticut, for Little Pink Man

National winner Angela Patten is the author of three poetry collections, In Praise of Usefulness (Wind Ridge Books), Reliquaries and Still Listening (both from Salmon Poetry, Ireland), and a prose memoir, High Tea at a Low Table (Wind Ridge Books). Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, Patten now lives in Burlington, Vermont, where she teaches literature and creative writing at the University of Vermont.

Tracks
By Angela Patten

After surgery the stitch-marks look
like bird-feet walking up my arm.
But what strange bird has left
its bone-white prints embedded
in my wrist like needle-tracks?
Perhaps it was the raven,
that faux-sorrowful funeral director
walking beak-forward, gloved hands
folded behind his back, who walks the
twin trajectories of a railway line
that leads to a long-defunct station
where I might meet myself returning
from the beach with two scabbed knees
embossed inoculations against disease
the weals of ancient injuries like medals
from the battlefields of childhood
and my mother’s crowsfeet
inching toward my eyes.

Akron Poetry Prize

Akron Poetry PrizeUniversity of Akron Press Poetry Prize

Deadline: June 15, 2017
Entry Fee: $25
Prize:  $1,500

Information

The Akron Series in Poetry was founded to bring to the public writers who speak in original and compelling voices. Each year, The University of Akron Press offers the Akron Poetry Prize, a competition open to all poets writing in English. The winning poet receives $1,500 and publication of his, her, or their book. The final selection will be made by a nationally prominent poet. The final judge for 2017 is Oliver de la Paz. Other manuscripts may also be considered for publication in the series.

Guidelines for Submission

1. Manuscripts must be a total length of at least 48 pages and no longer than 90 pages. Individual poems may have appeared in chapbooks or literary magazines, but we are unable to consider collections that have been previously published as a full-length volume. Translations are not eligible.

2. Manuscripts must not include identifying information, but should have a title page, and may include an acknowledgments page listing poems previously published in periodicals (if applicable). Please do not submit manuscripts that have the author’s name on each page, or any biographical information. Manuscripts will go to the judge without identifying information. Be sure that your Submittable account reflects your updated contact information, as we will use this information when contacting you.

3. Manuscripts will be accepted via Submittable between April 15 and June 15 of each year. Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but The University of Akron Press must be notified immediately if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere. Multiple submissions are accepted.

4. An entry fee of $25 is required for each manuscript submission, and will be collected through Submittable.

5. Contest results will be posted on our website www.uakron.edu/uapress/poetryprizewinner by September 30. Questions may be sent to uapress@uakron.edu.

6. Intimate friends, relatives, current and former students of the final judge (students in an academic, degree-conferring program or its equivalent), and current faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the University of Akron or the Northeast Ohio MFA Program (NEOMFA) are not eligible to enter the Akron Poetry Prize competition.

2017 Final Judge

Oliver de la Paz is the author of four collections of poetry: Names Above Houses, Furious Lullaby, Requiem for the Orchard, and Post Subject: A Fable. He also co-edited A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry. A founding member, Oliver serves as the co-chair of the Kundiman advisory board. Additionally he serves on the Executive Board of Trustees for the Association of Writers & Writing Programs. His work has been published or is forthcoming in journals such as American Poetry Review, Tin House, The Southern Review, and Poetry Northwest. He teaches at the College of the Holy Cross and in the Low-Residency MFA Program at PLU.

Poetry Society of America Student Award

Student Poetry AwardLouise Louis / Emily F. Bourne Student Poetry Award, $250

Endowed under the wills of Louise Louis Whitbread and Ruth M. Bourne, this prize is awarded for the best unpublished poem by a student in grades 9 through 12 from the United States. Teachers or administrators may submit an unlimited number of their students’ poems, one submission per student.

 Submission Details & Instructions

•  You can only  submit one entry per student.
•  A poem that has previously won a PSA Award cannot be re-submitted.
•  No previously published work can be submitted.
•  Translations are ineligible.
•  Poems by more than one author will not be accepted.
•  Entry should have one cover page and two collated copies of your poem.

The Cover Page must include:

Name
Address
Email (if available)
Phone
Name of the Award
Title and First Line of first poem in submission
Your name should not appear anywhere else besides this cover sheet.

Cover Sheet Template: It’s not a requirement, but you might find it helpful to use our cover sheet template.

Entry Fee

High school students may send single entries to the Louise Louis/Emily F. Bourne Student Poetry Award for the fee of $5.

High school teachers or administrators may submit an unlimited number of their students’ poems (one submission per student) for a $20 entry fee.

You do not need to be a member of the Poetry Society of America to submit to this award.

Checks should be made payable to the Poetry Society of America.

Mailing Address

Poetry Society of America
Annual Award Submission
15 Gramercy Park
New York, NY 10003

DEADLINE: December 22, 2016

Kenyon Review Poetry Prize

The Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers

Patrica Grodd ContestThe Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers recognizes outstanding young poets and is open to high school sophomores and juniors throughout the world. The contest winner receives a full scholarship to the Kenyon Review Young Writers workshop. In addition, the winning poem and the poems of the two runners-up will be published in The Kenyon Review, one of the country’s most widely read literary magazines.

yw-groupThe contest is named in honor of Patricia Grodd in recognition of her generous support of The Kenyon Review and its programs, as well as her passionate commitment to education and deep love for poetry. The final judge of the contest is KR Editor at Large Natalie Shapero.

Every year, submissions are accepted electronically November 1 through November 30.

It’s Simple to Enter

    • Limit of one, previously unpublished poem per entrant (please do not simultaneously submit your contest entry to another magazine or contest.)
    • You must be a high school sophomore or junior to enter
    • Make sure your file is in ONE of the following formats:

-.PDF (Adobe Acrobat)
-.DOC or .DOCX (Microsoft Word)
-.RTF (Rich Text Format)
-.TXT (Microsoft Wordpad and Notepad, Apple TextEdit)

  • Submit your poem between November 1 and November 30, 2016 by pressing the “Submit Here” button on the website and uploading your file.
  • No entry fee; it’s 100% free!

NJ Youth Poet Laureate Competition

NJ Youth Poet Laureate Contest

New Poetry Contest:

The Writers Theatre of New Jersey is launching a brand-new NJ Youth Poet Laureate program! High school students from all over the state can enter by submitting five poems via our online form, found here, under the “Prepare the Submission” tab.

What To Submit:

Four of the poems can be on any subject at all, but the fifth poem must be a “poem of place;” a poem of place is a poem that describes, whether literally or metaphorically, where the poet lives. The poems can be in any style of poetry, including rap or spoken word (though they must be submitted in written form), and can be new works created just for the contest or existing poems the poet has written. Prizes include a Governor’s Award, opportunities for the poets to read their work throughout the state, and the publication of the poems in an anthology, so reach out to the high school poets in your life and make sure they get their poems in before that deadline. Only a few weeks to go!

How to Submit:

For more information on the program, go to the NJYPL page here:  Deadline: October 24, 2016 . Extended to December 1, 2016.

Cicada Magazine “Flux” Poetry Contest

Creative Endeavors Poetry Contest

cicada magazine poetry contestCicada Magazine challenges writers ages 14-23 to answer their Call for Creative Endeavors Contest with poems on the theme of “flux.” Entries accepted via Submittable. Deadline: 9/30/16.

FLUX: More often than we’d like, we find ourselves in one of those in-between spots in which nothing is certain, everything is uncomfortable and weird, and just when you get used to one thing, it changes again. In poetry or art, talk about the frustration (inspiration?) that comes with being in a state of flux. Visit cicadamag.com/submitwork for more info.

CICADA is a YA lit/comics magazine fascinated with the lyric and strange and committed to work that speaks to teens’ truths. We publish poetry, realistic and genre fiction, essay, and comics by adults and teens. (We are also inordinately fond of Viking jokes.) Our readers are smart and curious; submissions are invited but not required to engage young adult themes.  We especially welcome: works by people of color, people with disabilities, LGBTQAI+ folks, genderqueer folks, and other marginalized peoples. Not welcome:
cultural appropriation.

Favorite writers, YA and otherwise: Sarah McCarry, Nnedi Okorafor, Sherman Alexie, David Levithan, Daniel Jose Older, Holly Black, Kelly Link, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ntozake Shange, Anne Carson, Jacqueline Woodson, ZZ Packer, Angela Nissel, Sofia Samatar, Malory Ortberg, Saeed Jones, Octavia Butler, Andrea Gibson.

@cicadamagazine / cicadamagazine.tumblr.com

Gulf Coast Prize for Short Prose

Gulf Coast PrizeThe Barthelme Prize for Short Prose is open to pieces of prose poetry, flash fiction, and micro-essays of 500 words or fewer. Established in 2008, the contest awards its winner $1,000 and publication in the journal. The Gulf Coast Prize will offer two honorable mentions of $250, and all entries will be considered for paid publication on our website as Online Exclusives. To view last year’s winner and honorable mentions, you can purchase issue 28.2 here.  Contest judge Jim Shepard has written seven novels, including The Book of Aron, published in 2015, which won the Sophie Brody Medal for Excellence in Jewish Literature and the PEN/New England Award for Fiction. Deadline: August 31, 2016 at 11:59 CST.

Indiana Review Prize

Indiana Review Prize
Final Judge: Aimee Nezhukumatathil

An Indiana Review Prize, aka  the “1/2 K” prize of $1,000 and publication in Indiana Review is given annually for a poem or a work of flash fiction or nonfiction of up to 500 words. Aimee Nezhukumatathil will judge. Submit up to three poems or pieces of fiction or nonfiction of up to 500 words each with a $20 entry fee, which includes a subscription to Indiana Review, by August 15. All entries are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines: https://indianareview.org/contests/.

PEN Center Emerging Voices Fellowship

pen-center-usa-emerging-voices-fellowship-2015The Emerging Voices Fellowship is a literary mentorship that aims to provide new writers who are isolated from the literary establishment with the tools, skills, and knowledge they need to launch a professional writing career.

LITERARY MENTORSHIP BENEFITS

By the end of the Emerging Voices Fellowship, a writer will leave with:

  • Seven months of guidance from a professional mentor and written notes on their current writing project.
  • An author photo and bio.
  • A logline—the short summation of the project in progress.
  • A clear action plan for finishing this project.
  • Writing life, and craft tips, from notable visiting authors.
  • An editing guide from a professional copy editor.
  • Insider knowledge of publishing from agents, editors, etc.
  • An individualized submission guide for literary journals, agents, residencies, and fellowships.
  • Improved reading technique from a professional voice coach.
  • Public reading experience for a variety of audiences.
  • An understanding of how to be an effective workshop member.
  • Lifetime membership in PEN Center USA.
  • An introduction to the Los Angeles literary community.

Age 21 and over. Entry fee: $10. DEADLINE: August 1, 2016

Foyle Young Poets Contest

The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award

Foyle-poster-wolvesSponsored by the Poetry Society, the Foyle Young Poets Award is the UK’s largest poetry competition for students age 11 – 17 throughout the world. This international competition is free to enter. Individuals may submit more than one poem, however the contest judges strongly advise that you concentrate on drafting and redrafting your poems and send only a small selection of your very best (no more than 6-8 maximum). Remember, quality is more important than quantity! See Full Rules. Deadline: July 31, 2016.