Genre: Poetry

Beyond Stability

The Time Is Now
8.12.25

“I often think of poetry as something that is beyond the true and the false,” says poet and critic Michael Leong on what he feels is true about the art of poetry in a Literary Hub interview with Peter Mishler. “Poetry’s strangeness is so tied up with how it productively messes with what we previously thought were stable truths and stable falsehoods.” Taking inspiration from this notion that poetry exists in a space that is “beyond the true and the false,” write a poem that explores a seemingly stable truth or falsehood, one that you may be interested in interrogating and undermining. Experiment with using surrealist imagery, playing with expanding far out into the white space of the page to stretch further into the incongruity of your subject.

James Hearst Poetry Prize

North American Review
Entry Fee: 
$23
Deadline: 
November 1, 2025
A prize of $1,000 and publication in North American Review is given annually for a single poem. Danez Smith will judge. Submit up to five poems of any length with a $23 entry fee, which includes an issue of North American Review, by November 1. All entries are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines. 


Rome Prize

American Academy in Rome
Entry Fee: 
$50
Deadline: 
November 1, 2025
Half-term and full-term fellowships of $16,000 and $30,000 respectively are given annually to artists, academics, and creative writers, including poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers, to support the development of a project. In addition to a stipend, the fellows are each provided with meals, a private workspace, and a bedroom with a private bathroom as they join the Academy’s residential community on the Janiculum Hill in Rome, alongside other fellows and visiting artists and scholars. All applicants, except those applying for the National Endowment for the Humanities postdoctoral fellowships, must be U.S. citizens at the time of their application. Writers who in the past six years have published a book in their respective genre are eligible. Using only the online submission system, submit up to 20 pages of poetry or prose, a résumé, a project proposal, and contact information for three references with a $50 entry fee by November 1 (or an $80 entry fee by November 15). Visit the website for complete guidelines.

John Updike Tucson Casitas Fellowship

John Updike Society
Entry Fee: 
$0
Deadline: 
November 1, 2025
A prize of $1,000 and a two-week residency at the Mission Hill Casitas that John Updike owned and worked out of in Tucson is given annually for a group of poems or a work of fiction or nonfiction. The fellowship selection committee will judge. Submit five pages of poetry or prose (excerpts from a longer work are accepted), a brief bio, and a project description in a single PDF by November 1. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Steve Kowit Poetry Prize

San Diego Entertainment & Arts Guild
Entry Fee: 
$15
Deadline: 
October 15, 2025
A prize of $1,000 and publication in San Diego Poetry Annual is given annually for a single poem. The winner also receives an invitation to read at an award ceremony in April 2026. Maria Mazziotti Gillan will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit a poem of any length with a $15 entry fee, which includes a digital copy of San Diego Poetry Annual, by October 15. All entries are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Poetry Contest

Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival
Entry Fee: 
$15
Deadline: 
October 15, 2025
A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a group of poems by a writer who has not published a chapbook or full-length book of poetry. The winner is also invited to give a reading at the Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival in March 2026. Skye Jackson will judge. Submit two to four poems totaling no more than 400 lines with a $15 entry fee by October 15. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Honickman First Book Prize

American Poetry Review
Entry Fee: 
$25
Deadline: 
October 1, 2025
A prize of $3,000 and publication by American Poetry Review is given annually for a debut poetry collection. The winning book is distributed by Copper Canyon Press through Consortium. Dorothea Lasky will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of at least 48 pages with a $25 entry fee by October 1. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Tags: 
first book awards

Jake Adam York Prize

Copper Nickel
Entry Fee: 
$25
Deadline: 
October 15, 2025
A prize of $2,000 and publication by Milkweed Editions is given annually for a first or second poetry collection. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of at least 48 pages with a $25 entry fee, which includes a subscription to Copper Nickel, by October 15. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Malinda A. Markham Translation Prize

Saturnalia Books
Entry Fee: 
$30
Deadline: 
November 1, 2025
A prize of $2,000 and publication by Saturnalia Books is given annually for a poetry collection in translation. Translators who identify as female (including those who are assigned-female-at-birth [AFAB] nonbinary, genderfluid, agender, and intersex) and who are translating the work of a woman poet (including those who are AFAB nonbinary, genderfluid, agender, and intersex) are eligible. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of 48 to 120 pages with a $30 entry fee by November 1. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Willie Morris Award for Southern Poetry

University of Mississippi
Entry Fee: 
$0
Deadline: 
September 30, 2025
A prize of $3,000 is given annually for a single poem that evokes the U.S. South. The winner will also receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Oxford, Mississippi, for the awards ceremony in March 2026. Submit one poem of up to 60 lines by September 30. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

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