Potomac Review, the literary magazine of Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland, will accept submissions to its biennial poetry contest until Monday, February 1. Submissions of up to three poems totaling no more than five pages can be made this weekend online, though the entry fee of twenty dollars must be sent via mail.

The winning poet, announced on February 15, will receive one thousand dollars and publication of her winning work in Potomac Review. All entries will be considered for publication in the print magazine and on the journal's Web site.

So, where does that entry fee go? Why does the journal run contests at all (the poetry prize rotates annually with one in fiction)? Information about the inner workings of Potomac Review is available on the journal's blog, where a member of the editorial staff makes a case for holding contests. Here are a few key bits from that post:

"Contests are a way for us to prove to our funding source that we can make money. We use them to give back the money they provide for printing, mailing, and staff support." 

"I personally like the anonymous nature of contests. Anybody, published or unpublished, can win. My associate editors like the absence of cover letters. Several have told me it frees them to read with an open mind."

"So I realize that everybody is offering a contest, but I think poets and writers should give it a shot. Take a chance and support your favorite magazines. If you were ever going to subscribe to us, why not submit a few poems and roll the dice."

The Queen Sofía Spanish Institute in New York City has awarded Edith Grossman—translator of works by Miguel de Cervantes, Gabriel García Márques, and Mario Vargas Llosa, among other Latin American and Spanish authors—its first ever translation prize. Grossman will receive the inaugural ten-thousand-dollar prize in honor of A Manuscript of Ashes (Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt, 2008), her translation of Antonio Muñoz Molina's 1986 novel Beatus Ille.

The 2010 award set out to recognize an English-language fiction translation published between 2006 and 2008 by a U.S. publisher and written in Castilian by a Spanish author. The next prize is expected to be awarded in 2012, and then again in 2015.

Prior to presentation of the prize on February 2, the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute will host a conversation between Grossman and Muñoz Molina at 6 PM. Information is available on the organization's Web site.

In the video below, Grossman discusses the importance of the translator at an event sponsored by Words Without Borders. Several other videos from this presentation are also posted on YouTube.

For the third year, Amazon has launched its competition for the next popular novel. The winning author, selected by Amazon users, will have her book published by Penguin and receive an advance of fifteen thousand dollars.

The contest, which this year also includes a second category for young adult fiction, will close on February 7, or once five thousand entries have been received, whichever comes first.

Manuscripts will be screened by editors from Amazon and Penguin as well as reviewers from Publishers Weekly and Amazon, according to the prize Web site. A shortlist of three novels will be issued by author Tana French, Viking Books editorial director and executive editor Molly Stern, and agent Julie Barer, and in late May Amazon users will vote to select the winner, announced on June 14.

Last year's winner was James King for Bill Warrington's Last Chance, and the inaugural winner was Bill Loehfelm for Fresh Kills. Four of last year's finalists will also receive publication—a recent development for the competition. Amazon announced today that its imprint AmazonEncore will release Andrew Fukuda's Crossing, Francine Thomas Howard's Page From a Tennessee Journal, Steffan Piper's Greyhound, and Paul Reid's A Cruel Harvest. The titles will be available in the spring.

In the video below, Amazon reviewer Megan Bostic presents her take on King's winning book.