Genre: Poetry

Poetry Award

42 Miles Press
Entry Fee: 
$25
Deadline: 
June 15, 2025
A prize of $1,000, publication by 42 Miles Press, and 50 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. The winner is also invited to give a reading at Indiana University in South Bend in fall 2027. David Dodd Lee will judge. Current or former students at Indiana University in South Bend are ineligible. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of 48 to 120 pages with a $25 entry fee by June 15. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Canadian First Book Prize 

Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry
Entry Fee: 
$0
Deadline: 
June 20, 2025
A prize of $10,000 Canadian (approximately $6,960) is awarded for a debut poetry collection by a living Canadian poet or permanent resident. The winner is also offered a six-week fellowship with the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Perugia, Italy. Publishers may submit four copies of a book of at least 48 pages in length published between January 1 and June 30 by June 20. The deadline for submitting books published during the second half of the year is December 19. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for the required entry form and complete guidelines.

Akron Poetry Prize

University of Akron Press
Entry Fee: 
$25
Deadline: 
June 15, 2025
A prize of $1,500 and publication by University of Akron Press is given annually for a poetry collection. Eduardo C. Corral will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of 48 to 90 pages with a $25 entry fee by June 15. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize

American Poetry Review
Entry Fee: 
$15
Deadline: 
May 15, 2025
A prize of $1,000 and publication in American Poetry Review is given annually for a single poem by a poet under the age of 40. The editors will judge. Submit up to three poems totaling no more than three pages with a $15 entry fee, which includes a copy of the prize issue, by May 15. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Griffin Poetry Prize

Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry
Entry Fee: 
$0
Deadline: 
June 20, 2025
A prize of $130,000 Canadian (approximately $90,479) is given annually for a poetry collection written in or translated into English by a living poet or translator from anywhere in the world and published during the previous year. Finalists receive $10,000 Canadian (approximately $6,960) each for their participation in the shortlisted authors event to be held in Toronto in June. Should the prize-winning book be a translation, 60 percent of the prize is awarded to the translator and 40 percent to the poet. Publishers may submit four copies of a book of at least 48 pages in length published between January 1 and June 30 by June 20. The deadline to submit books published during the second half of the year is December 19. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for the required entry form and complete guidelines.

National Book Awards

National Book Foundation
Entry Fee: 
$135
Deadline: 
June 6, 2025
Four prizes of $10,000 each are given annually for books of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and young people’s literature written by U.S. writers and published in the United States during the previous year. A $10,000 prize is also given for an English translation of a book of fiction or nonfiction by a living writer and translator published in the United States during the previous year. Finalists in all categories receive $1,000 each. Publishers may submit titles published or scheduled for publication between December 1, 2024, and November 30, 2025, for consideration via the online submission form with a $135 entry fee per title by May 14. Additionally, a digital copy and six hard copies (or bound galleys) of the books must be submitted to the judges and the National Book Foundation by June 6. Visit the website for the required entry form and complete guidelines.

Signs of Spring

4.15.25

What signals to you that spring has finally arrived? While there are signs of transformation throughout the year, the signs of spring often feel particularly special following on the heels of winter as many look forward to the tiniest indications of vernal revitalization. Buzzing bees, daffodils and tulips, pollen that makes you sneeze, the end of clanging heater pipes, wearing shorts, outdoor picnics, and opening windows—there are many associations with the freshness of the season. This week write a series of short poems that focus on the small, perhaps idiosyncratic changes that signify to you, personally, that a new season is upon us.

Zell Visiting Writers Series: Jane Wong

Caption: 

In this event hosted by the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan, Jane Wong reads “To Love a Mosquito,” a chapter from her memoir, Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City (Tin House, 2023), and pieces of her mother’s diary, followed by a discussion about her approaches to poetry versus creative nonfiction.

Dear Poet 2025: Meg Day

Caption: 

“I knew I was a god / when you could not / agree on my name // & still, none you spoke / could force me to listen / closer.” In this video, Meg Day reads “Portrait of My Gender as [Inaudible]” as part of Dear Poet, the Academy of American Poets’ educational project for National Poetry Month.

Genre: 

Boardwalks in Winter

In Sean Baker’s film Anora, which won best picture at this year’s Academy Awards, the title character spends the majority of her time zigzagging around New York City with various characters and in one particularly indelible shot, she strides past the iconic Cyclone roller coaster at a deserted Coney Island boardwalk on a gray winter afternoon. This week write a poem that revolves around an iconic location with a depiction that is unconventional or atypical in juxtaposition. You might consider how this locale is usually thought of in the popular imagination, how it was designed to function, or how it looks in different seasons. Play around with diction and rhythm to amp up a sense of tension and upend conventional expectations of your subject.

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