Genre: Poetry

Akron Poetry Prize

University of Akron Press
Entry Fee: 
$25
Deadline: 
June 15, 2026
A prize of $1,500 and publication by University of Akron Press is given annually for a poetry collection. Brenda Shaughnessy 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.

New Writers Awards

Great Lakes Colleges Association
Entry Fee: 
$0
Deadline: 
May 25, 2026
Three prizes are given annually for first books by a poet, a fiction writer, and a creative nonfiction writer. The winners each receive an all-expenses-paid trip to several of the 13 GLCA colleges, each of which pays an honorarium of $500 to give readings, meet with students, and lead discussions and classes. Books published in 2025 and 2026 are eligible. Faculty members of the colleges will judge. Publishers may submit four copies of one book in each category by May 25. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Literary Prizes

Washington Writers’ Publishing House
Entry Fee: 
$28
Deadline: 
June 30, 2026
Two prizes of $1,500 each, publication by Washington Writers’ Publishing House, and 25 author copies are given annually for a poetry collection and a short story collection or novel. Additionally, a prize of $1,500, publication by Washington Writers’ Publishing House, and 25 author copies is given in alternating years for a poetry collection in translation or a book of creative nonfiction. This year the prize will be awarded in creative nonfiction. Winners are also invited to participate in readings at Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C. and the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Writers who live in Washington, D.C., Maryland, or Virginia are eligible. Using only the online submission system, submit a poetry manuscript of 70 to 100 pages, a novel or story collection of 150 to 250 pages, or a work of creative nonfiction between 150 and 250 pages with a $28 entry fee by June 30. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Joe W. Bratcher Prize

Host Publications
Entry Fee: 
$15
Deadline: 
June 1, 2026
A prize of $8,000, publication by Host Publications, and 25 author copies will be given annually for a poetry collection. The editors will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit a poetry manuscript of 60 to 90 pages with a $15 entry fee by June 1. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Auburn Witness Poetry Prize

Southern Humanities Review
Entry Fee: 
$15
Deadline: 
June 1, 2026
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Southern Humanities Review is given annually for a “poem of witness in honor of the late poet Jake Adam York.” The winner also receives an invitation, lodging, and travel expenses to give a reading at an event with the judge at the Jule Museum at Auburn University. Using only the online submission system, submit up to three poems with a $15 entry fee by June 1. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize

American Poetry Review
Entry Fee: 
$15
Deadline: 
May 15, 2026
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.

Transformation Awards

Leeway Foundation
Entry Fee: 
$0
Deadline: 
May 15, 2026
Awards of $15,000 each are given annually to women, transgender, and/or gender-nonconforming poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers in the Philadelphia area who have been creating art for social change for at least five years. Writers who have lived in Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia counties for at least two years and who are not full-time students in a degree-granting arts program are eligible. Submit a completed application form, which includes a list of relevant experience and a statement demonstrating the applicant’s commitment to “art for social change work” by May 15. A panel of community-based artists will review applications and invite selected poets and prose writers to submit work for the second stage of the application process. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for the required application form and complete guidelines.

PEN/Bare Life Review Grants

PEN America
Entry Fee: 
$0
Deadline: 
June 15, 2026
Two grants of $5,000 each are given annually for poetry, fiction, and nonfiction works-in-progress “by immigrant and refugee writers, recognizing that the literature of migration is of inherent and manifest value.” Submit a writing sample of up to 40 pages of poetry or up to 75 pages of prose, a curriculum vitae, and an outline and description of the project by June 1. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Anthology Poetry Competition

Anthology Magazine
Entry Fee: 
$18
Deadline: 
June 30, 2026
A prize of €1,000 (approximately $1,169) and publication in Anthology Magazine is given annually for a single poem. Rachael Hegarty will judge. Submit a poem of no more than 40 lines with a €15 (approximately $18) entry fee by the early bird deadline of June 30. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Changing Light Prize

Livingston Press
Entry Fee: 
$0
Deadline: 
May 31, 2026
A prize of $500, publication by Livingston Press, and 20 author copies is given annually for a novel-in-verse. Eleanor Boudreau will judge. Submit a manuscript of 90 to 160 pages of poetry and a cover letter via e-mail by May 31. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

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