August Poetry Contests

AUGUST Poetry Contests

Arranged by deadline, then alphabetically; deadlines in red denote "received by" rather than "postmarked by." Not responsible for out-of-date or incorrect information; write, call, e-mail or check websites for current guidelines.

August 1 Deadlines

8/1/07	Asinine Crime Poetry Contest	Prizes: $100, $75, $50, and publication	Fee: $1
asinine poetry P.O. Box 1349 New York, NY 10276			Judge:
			Notify:
Poems: BECOME THE SHAKESPEARE OF CRIME! Or, rather, the Capone of poetry. For our next contest, we're calling you out to write poems in a niche category of poetry--the crime poem. That is, poems about crime. Everything from arson to extortion to murder to zebra-napping, true to fictional. Written in the asinine MO. Can you do it? Are you chicken? Give it a shot. Whatcha got to lose? One dollar per entry. You may enter up to THREE times. You may use modern electronic means. E-mail us your entry and then send us the fee via payPal, or you may use snail mail; send your cash cleverly hidden in with your entry. PLEASE DO NOT SEND A CHECK OR MONEY ORDER.
http://www.asininepoetry.com/contest/12

8/1/07	Bellevue Literary Review Prizes	Prizes: $1,000 and publication	Fee: $15 (online)
Submit online		info@BLReview.org	Judge: Marie Howe
			Notify: December 31
Poems: BLR Prize awards outstanding writing related to themes of health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body. First prize is $1000 (in each genre) and publication in the Spring 2008 issue of the BLR. Prose limited to 5000 words. Up to 3 poems (max 5 pages). We regret that simultaneous submissions cannot be considered for the BLR Prize (but can be submitted for regular publication). Entry fee is $15 per submission. For an additional $5, you will receive a 1 year subscription to the BLR. (There is a limit of two submissions per person). Manuscripts are submitted electronically as a Microsoft Word document. (Please combine all poems into one document and use first poem as title. ) Do not put your name on the manuscript document or cover letter. (This will be entered separately on our website.) When entering the title in the website, please prefix with "Contest." (e.g. Contest : The Iliad.) This is extremely important and we appreciate your cooperation! Work previously published (including on the Internet) will not be considered. BLR acquires first-time North American rights. After publication, all rights revert to the author and may be reprinted as long as appropriate acknowledgement to BLR is made. Due to administrative costs, if no entry fee is received, manuscript will be placed with general submissions. Submit entry fee on website. After you submit entry fee, you will be guided through the online submission process.
http://www.blreview.org/Contest/contest_guidelines.htm

8/1/07	The bluechrome Poetry Collection Award	Prizes: £250 and publication	Fee: £15 to bluechrome publishing
The bluechrome Awards (Web) PO Box 109 Portishead, Bristol BS20 7ZJ UNITED KINGDOM			Judge:
			Notify: December 31
10 poems: open to everybody, and submissions for all genres are welcome. Closing Date: 1st August 2007. Entry Fee: £15. Any Subject, Ten Poems of Any Length. The Winner will receive £250, plus an offer of a contract to have a collection of 40–60 Poems published by bluechrome. Additionally, they will receive fifty copies of their book once published. All Entries must be the original work of the entrant. All Entries must be made by post. If you are outside of the UK and wish to submit your work by email, please contact us before doing so. Please enclose a SASE for results. Please keep copies of all work entered as it will not be returned. Please make cheques payable to ‘bluechrome publishing’ or alternatively pay via our web site. The Judges decision is final; no correspondence will be entered into. No entry form is required. Please include a cover sheet with your name and address and the title of the submission. Submissions should have no names or marks on them, as the competitions will be judged anonymously.
http://www.bluechrome.co.uk/store/shop/custom.asp?recid=5

8/15/08	Camber Press Poetry Chapbook Award	Prizes: $1,000 and publication	Fee: $15 to Camber Press
Poetry Contest Camber Press 1160 Midland Avenue Suite 3F Bronxville, New York 10708			Judge: Steve Orlen
			Notify: November 1
Chapbook manuscript: Only typed manuscripts no greater than 24 pages of original English-language poems will be considered. Manuscripts must include a cover page listing the author's name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and manuscript title. Names should not appear anywhere else. A title page with no biographical information and a table of contents should follow. Include an acknowledgements page for poems that have been previously published. Simultaneous submissions are allowed if Camber Press is immediately notified of acceptance elsewhere. Submissions will be recycled, not returned. Include SASP for acknowledgment of receipt. The winner will be announced on the Camber Press Web site. Include SASE for results.
http://www.camberpress.com/submissions.html

8/1/07	Wilda Hearne Flash Fiction Contest	Prizes: $200 and publication	Fee: $15 to Southeast Missouri State University Press
Wilda Hearne Flash Fiction Contest Southeast Missouri State University Press MS 2650, One University Plaza Cape Girardeau, MO 63701		info@loganhousepress.com	Judge: Susan Swartwout, publisher
			Notify: October 1
Short-short: Work must not be previously published. Send maximum of 500 words, double-spaced, with no identifying name on the pages, and a separate cover sheet with story title, author's name, address, and phone number. Send SASE for notification of results; all manuscripts will be recycled. $15 reading fee includes a copy of the issue of Big Muddy in which the winning story appears.
http://www6.semo.edu/universitypress/hearne.htm

8/1/07	Holland Prize	Prizes: $500 and publication	Fee: $25 to Logan House
Logan House Rte. 1, Box 154 Winside, NE 68790		info@loganhousepress.com	Judge:
			Notify:
Book manuscript: Logan House announces the second annual Holland Prize for unpublished poetry manuscripts (48-80 pages). The winning manuscript will be published in 2007, and the winner will receive $500. Submit manuscript, $25 reading fee, and SASE, before August 1. Everyone that submits to the Holland Prize will receive a copy of Disciples of an Uncertain Season by Larry Holland and will also receive the winning manuscript. Friends and close associates of the press are not eligible for the contest. We are interested in publishing the best manuscript that comes across our desks. We are not looking for anything regional, Midwest, Great Plains or Western related. We will award the Holland Prize to the best manuscript we read no matter what region you write from. Manuscripts will be recycled unless otherwise noted and proper return postage is supplied.
www.loganhousepress.com/index.php

8/1/07	Rattle Poetry Prize	Prizes: $5,000, 10 x $100, and publication	Fee: $16 to RATTLE
RATTLE 12411 Ventura Blvd. Studio City, CA 91604			Judge: editors
			Notify: September 15
Poems: Entry fee includes a one year subscription to RATTLE. Open to writers, worldwide; poems must be written in English (no translations). Submissions will be judged in a blind review by the editors: Send no more than five poems per entry; print name, address, phone number, and the titles of the poems onto a coversheet. No contact information should appear on the poems. Include a check or money order for $16, payable to RATTLE. No previously published works, or works accepted for publication elsewhere. No simultaneous submissions. Manuscripts will not be returned; include a SASE to be notified of the results. Winners will be published in the Winter issue. Additional entries may also be offered publication. For an idea of our editorial tastes, back issues can be purchased at rattle.com. Enter online on website.
http://rattle.com/rpp/rpp.htm

August 15 Deadlines

8/15/07	Erskine J. Poetry Prize	Prizes: $200 and publication	Fee: $5 to Smartish Pace
Smartish Pace Erskine J. Poetry Prize P.O. Box 22161 Baltimore, MD 212036		sreichert@smartishpace.com	Judge: Stephen Reichert, Editor
			Notify:
Poems: Submit online through website with PayPal or submit by mail: 3 poems along with a $5 entry fee. Entry fees can be paid with a check or money order made payable to Smartish Pace. Additional poems may be submitted for $1 per poem. No more than 12 poems may be submitted (maximum submission: 12 poems= $5 + $9 = $14). All entries must include a bio. Please review bios from our most recent issue. Include an SASE) with your entry. Include your name, address, e-mail and telephone number (preferred) on each page of poetry submitted. Write or print "Erskine J." on the top of each poem submitted.
http://www.smartishpace.com/home/contest.html

8/15/07	Subito Press Chapbook Competition	Prizes: $1,000 and publication	Fee: $15 to Subito Press
Subito Press Department of English 226 University of Colorado, Boulder Boulder, Colorado 80309-0226		Email: cwengl@colorado.edu Voice and Voicemail: (303) 492-1853	Judge: creative writing faculty
			Notify: by December
Chapbook manuscript: Submit manuscripts of up to 40 pages of poetry or 30 pages of (double-spaced) fiction along with a $15 reading fee and an 8.5 x 11 SASE if you would like a copy of the winning entry in your genre. Manuscripts should include two cover sheets: one with title only, the other with title, author's name, address, e-mail, and phone number. Submissions will be accepted from June 1 to August 15 (postmark date). All submissions will be judged anonymously by the creative writing faculty at the University of Colorado; friends, relatives, and former students of University of Colorado creative writing faculty are not eligible. Simultaneous submissions o.k.; please notify Subito immediately if your ms. is accepted elsewhere. Winners will be give a reading at the University of Colorado.
www.colorado.edu/English/crw/chapbook.html

8/15/07	Transcontinental Poetry Award	Prizes: $1,000 and publication	Fee: $18 to Pavement Saw Press
Pavement Saw Press Transcontinental Poetry Award PO Box 6291 Columbus, OH 43206		David Baratier, Editor baratier@megsinet.net	Judge:
			Notify: October
Book manuscript: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Pavement Saw Press is given annually for a first collection of poetry. Poets who have not published a book or who have published a collection of less than 40 pages with a press run of no more than 500 copies are eligible. Send manuscript of 48 to 64 pages. Send SASE, e-mail, or visit for complete guidelines. All poems must be original, all prose must be original, fiction or translations are not acceptable. Include a cover letter which includes a brief biography, the book's title, your name, address, and telephone number, your signature, and your e-mail address. It should also include a list of acknowledgments for the book. The manuscript should be bound with a single clip and begin with a title page including the book's title, your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address. Submissions to the contest are judged anonymously. The second page should have only the title of the manuscript. There are to be no acknowledgments or mention of the author's name from this page forward. A table of contents should follow the second title page. The manuscript should be paginated, beginning with the first page of poetry. There should be no more than one poem on each page. The manuscript can contain pieces that are longer than one page. Your manuscript should be accompanied by a check in the amount of $18 to Pavement Saw Press. All US contributors to the contest will receive at least one book. Add $3 (US) for other countries to cover the extra postal charge. Do not include an SASE for notification of results; this information will be sent with the free book. While the judge will choose the prize winner, usually another anonymous manuscript is chosen by the editor, if enough entries arrive. This "editor's choice" manuscript will be published under a standard royalty contract. A decision will be reached in October. Books will be published in 2006. Do not send the only copy of your work. All manuscripts will be recycled and individual comments on the manuscripts cannot be made. Submissions are accepted during the months of June, July, and postmarked until August 15th only.
www.pavementsaw.org/contests.htm

August 16 Deadlines

8/16/07	Rhea and Seymour Gorsline Poetry Contest	Prizes: $500 and publication	Fee: $20 to Bedbug Press
Poetry Contest Bedbug Press, Inc. P.O. Box 39 Brownsville, OR, 97327		margiereview@aol.com	Judge:
			Notify:
Book manuscript: This is a first-book contest. A published book of over 40 pages of poetry makes the poet ineligible. The poet must be a resident for at least two years of either the United States or Canada. The manuscript is to be in English. The reading fee is $20, and includes a free copy of any one of our poetry books. Make check for reading fee to Bedbug Press, and clip to front of manuscript. The poet's name is not to appear on the manuscript, nor is any personal information. Two title pages are required, the first with the poet's name, address, telephone number, email address, and the title of the manuscript. The second title page is to include only the title. The manuscript is to be submitted in the form of hard copy---no discs. Please use a one-and-a-quarter inch spring clip to hold manuscript pages together. The manuscript may not have been published before as a whole; however, it may certainly contain published poems. Credit for the publication of each published poem should appear on the Acknowledgments Page (publication first, title of poem second). The manuscript may be submitted simultaneously to other publishers; however, if it is accepted for publication and the poet wishes to accept the publication, the poet must notify Bedbug Press. The manuscript will not be returned. Please enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard, which will be mailed to you upon receiving your manuscript. Please also include a self-addressed, stamped envelope for notification of results. Manuscript should be typed with one poem per page on one side of the page. Manuscripts are to be between 60 and 71 pages. This count includes contents pages, pages that number a section, or present a quotation. Please also tell us why you chose to submit your ms to our contest; will you be submitting to other contests? What criteria do you look for in a contest and/or publisher?.
http://www.bedbugpress.com/html/poetry.htm

August 31 Deadlines

8/31/07	Editor's Prize Best Poem Contest	Prizes: $1,000 and publication	Fee: $15 to MARGIE, Inc.
MARGIE PO Box 250 Chesterfield, MO 63006		margiereview@aol.com	Judge: Robert Nazarene
			Notify:
Poems: Submit 3 unpublished poems along with a $15 entry fee payable to MARGIE, Inc. (60 line limit per poem). Additional poems may be submitted for $5 each. Enclose a single cover sheet with your name, address, phone, email (if possible) & poem titles. No names should appear on the poems themselves. Simultaneous submissions accepted. Only submit copies as poems will not be returned. All entries will be considered for publication in Margie/The American Journal of Poetry. Include SASE to receive notification of contest results.
http://www.margiereview.com/CONTESTS/edprize07.html

8/31/08	Fish Micro-Fiction Showcase	Prizes: €500 and publication	Fee: €1 (online)
Submit online		info@fishpublishing.com	Judge:
			Notify: September 30
Poems: three, month-long competitions, during June, July and August for micro-fiction. That is defined as being stories of 30 words or less, or very short poems—5 lines or less! Each month there will be four winners in each category; stories and poems. Each winner will recieve a prize of €25 and a copy of the Fish Anthology 2007. At the end of August, all winning entries will form the final short-list from which one winner will be selected in each category. These overall winners will receive a further €500 together with a free personal web-site, sponsored by E-Fastnet. All winning entries will appear in the Fish Anthology. No entry form is needed. Entry is on-line only, open to writers of any nationality writing in English. No restriction on style or theme. Stories must be 30 words or less, not including the title. Poems must be five lines or less! All entries must be available for the Anthology and must not have been previously published. Multiple entries are allowed. (And indeed, encouraged!) Copyright remains with the author. Notification of receipt of entry will normally be by email. The judges' verdict is final. No correspondence will be entered into once work has been submitted. Stories cannot be altered or changed after they have been entered. Pay online at site; optional critique for €10.
http://www.fishpublishing.com/Micro-fiction-showcase.php

8/31/07	Juked Poetry Contest	Prizes: $500 and publication	Fee: $10 to Juked
Juked 2908 1/2 Hardy St. #3 Hattiesburg, MS 39401		info@juked.com	Judge: Julia Johnson
			Notify: October
Poems: send up to five poems (no more than ten pages total) per entry. Entries must be previously unpublished. Simultaneous submissions are just fine, but please notify us immediately if your work has been accepted elsewhere. Fee is $10 per entry, by cash or check or money order, payable to Juked; there is no limit on the number of entries you may submit. Include a cover sheet with your name, address, e-mail, telephone number and the title(s) of your story or poems. Please do not put your name anywhere else on the manuscript. Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope for notification. Manuscripts will not be returned; instead they will be gently placed in the recycling bin. Indicate "Fiction" or "Poetry" on the front of the envelope. All entries will be considered for publication in Juked.
http://www.juked.com/prize/

8/31/07	Ellen LaForge Poetry Prize Annual	Prizes: $1,000 and publication	Fee: $10 to Ellen LaForge Memorial Poetry Foundation
Ellen LaForge Memorial Poetry Foundation Poetry Prize 172 Auburn Street, #2 Cambridge, MA 02139			Judge:
			Notify:
Poems: given each year to a poet who has not yet published a poetry collection. Submit up to six poems totaling no more than 12 pages with a $10 entry fee by August 31. Send an SASE for complete guidelines.

8/31/07	The Laureate Prize for Poetry	Prizes: $300 and publication	Fee: $15 to C. J. Sage
C. J. Sage TNPR Post Office Box 2080 Aptos, California 95001-2080			Judge:
			Notify:
Poems: To honor one new poem that TNPR believes has the greatest chance of standing the test of time and becoming part of the literary canon. To enter, submit up to three of your best unpublished, uncommitted (not promised for first publication elsewhere) poems (10 page total maximum per group of three), along with your email address for results, contact information, a brief bio, and a reading fee for each set of up to three poems entered. Personal checks only, please; NO money orders. Please make checks payable to “C. J. Sage” only. If you include a small book-sized SASE with $1.50 postage with your $15 reading fee & entry, we will provide you a complimentary copy of the winner's issue. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but if the work is selected by TNPR for the prize or for publication, it must be withdrawn from elsewhere unless you have withdrawn it from us two weeks before our acceptance. Multiple submissions are acceptable with a reading fee for each group of three poems. Page limit per group: 10. Please note that close friends, relatives, and students of the judge or the editor are not eligible for the prize. The judge will be asked to send back to TNPR's editor any poem that s/he recognizes; should this happen, the entrant's fee will be refunded.
http://www.nationalpoetryreview.com/

8/31/07	The St. Lawrence Book Award	Prizes: $1,000 and publication	Fee: $25 to Black Lawrence Press
Black Lawrence Press Attn: Colleen Ryor 521 56th Street, 2F Brooklyn, NY 11220			Judge:
			Notify:
Book manuscript : for a first collection of poems or short stories. Entrants must not have had a full-length book published before and must come from the United States or Canada. Chapbooks do not count as full-length books, so writers who have published or will have published chapbooks of poems or short stories are not disqualified. The winner of this contest will receive book publication, a $1,000 cash award, ten copies of the book, and an interview in The Adirondack Review. Please make sure that your submission packet includes the following: cover letter with brief bio and contact information including e-mail, acknowledgments page for publications in which the poems/stories first appeared (if applicable), a contest entry fee of $25. PLEASE READ our editorial advice before submitting. FAQ also available. No electronic submissions, please. No exceptions. Please include a table of contents page and make sure that each page of your manuscript is numbered. Please do not include a manuscript-sized SASE; all manuscripts will be recycled. Include e-mail address for notification, or send a business-sized SASE for decision only. Finalists will be notified and asked to submit another copy of the manuscript for final judging. A list of finalists will be posted on the Black Lawrence Press website as soon as it is available. All work must be the original work of the author. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but notify Black Lawrence Press immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere. Checks should be made payable to Black Lawrence Press. Money orders are also acceptable, or pay through PayPal on site. Finalists and semi-finalists will receive a copy of the winning book. All finalists will be considered for standard publication.
www.blacklawrencepress.homestead.com/stlawrence.html

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