It’s Spring! Time to prepare for summer poetry contest entries
Friday March 28, 2008
With the passing of the spring equinox, we’ve entered another season’s cycle.... a good time for poets to look back over the poems they’ve written since last spring, put them together in a manuscript, and send it out to a chapbook or book publication competition with a late spring or summer deadline. Here’s a roundup of poetry competitions with upcoming entry deadlines:
- Four Way Books Intro Prize in Poetry (postmark or email deadline March 31)
- All Nations Press Chapbook Competition (postmark deadline March 31)
- Richard Peterson Poetry Prize from Crab Orchard Review (postmark deadline April 1)
- Robert Watson Poetry Award from Spring Garden Press, The Greensboro Review and From the Fishouse (postmark or online entry deadline April 2)
- Tupelo Press/Crazyhorse First Book Competition (postmark deadline April 15)
- Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize (postmark deadline April 30)
- The Anhinga Prize for Poetry (postmark deadline May 1)
- Spire Press Spring Poetry Chapbook Contest (postmark deadline May 1)
- Slapering Hol Press Chapbook Award (postmark deadline May 15)
- New Letters Prize for Poetry (postmark deadline May 18)
- Main Street Rag Chapbook Contest (email entry deadline May 19, postmark deadline May 31)
- Lois Cranston Memorial Poetry Prize from Calyx (postmark deadline May 31)
- The Bordighera Poetry Prize for Italian American poets (postmark deadline May 31)
- Many Mountains Moving Poetry Book Contest (postmark deadline June 1)
- Taste ’Test contest from Poetry Daily and the Virginia Arts of the Book Center (postmark deadline June 1)
- Boston Review Poetry Contest (postmark deadline June 1)
- Best New Poets Open Competition from the University of Virginia (online entries accepted April 15 - June 5)
- Verse Drama Prize from the Poetry Foundation (postmark deadline June 15)
- Ekphrasis Prize for poems based on other works of art (postmark deadline June 30)
- Barrow Street Press Book Contest (postmark deadline June 30)
Required reading before you submit to any contests:
How to put together a poetry manuscript for publication
“A Word To the Wise: On entering your poems in competition,” by Kurt Heintz
“You Do It Because You Love It,” by S.A. Griffin
Related resources:
More contest links
Comments
Have you vetted all these links? The Emily Dickinson Award links to info about 2007, not this year. (I contacted the Poetry Foundation and hope to have some info about whether there is an ED Award this year.) Others I checked do seem current.
I thought I had checked all these links before I posted the list of deadlines, but must have missed the Emily Dickinson Award. Thanks to you, Greg, we now have word from the Poetry Foundation that this competition will not be offered in 2008, so I have removed it from the list. Thanks for your eye on the details.
Thank you! This is a really great list and a mistake or two given the goodly number is completely understandable. You’re doing poets & readers a great service.
Only Love
Love can sometimes be fresh.
Love can sometimes be new.
Love can sometimes make you happy.
And sometimes make you blue.
Love is the light that radiates from your eyes.
Love is your image floating in the skies.
Love is true.
And darling, the only love for me is you.
Our Love
As long as there is love, I will cherish you.
As long as there is life, I will love you.
As long as the stars shine above, I will want you.
As long as there are waves in the ocean, I will need you.
As long as there is heaven above, there will always be our love.
The Night Was Made For Romance
The night was made for romance.
In the night our two hearts dance.
Under the stars our lips touch.
In the garden your embrace mean so much.
The night was made for love.
Our hearts cooing like a white dove.
Your eyes sparkling like diamonds so white.
I love you darling with all my might.
The night was made for caring and trust.
And darling, God made this night for us.
My Love
My love sails on blue waters.
Blue waters of your heart.
My love dances on the wind.
The wind of your soul.
My love is a true reflection.
Reflection of your eyes.
My love will live forever.
In your body and soul.
Your Love
Your love is like diamonds.
That sparkle in the night.
Your love is like the stars.
That shine so bright.
Your love is like the wind.
That feels so cool.
Your love is like icecream.
That tastes so smooth.
Your love is like the sky.
That is so blue.
Your love is like a bright sunny day.
That makes the world seem new.