Genre: Poetry

A prize of $2,000 and publication by Seneca Review Books is given biennially for a collection of lyric essays. The winner will also receive an invitation to give a reading with Hobart & William Smith Colleges. Melissa Febos will judge. Hybrid work, verse forms, text and image, and “connected or related pieces” are accepted. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of 48 to 120 pages with a $27 entry fee by August 1. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Fellowships of $78,000 each, as well as office space at the Radcliffe Institute and access to the libraries at Harvard University, are given annually to poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers to allow them to pursue innovative projects. Fellows, who are expected to reside in Cambridge, Massachusetts, or the surrounding Boston area during the fellowship period, September through May, also receive $5,000 to cover project expenses. Poets who have published a full-length collection or at least 20 poems in magazines or anthologies in the last five years and who are in the process of completing a manuscript are eligible. Fiction and nonfiction writers who have published one or more books, have a book-length manuscript under contract for publication, or have published at least three shorter works are eligible. Writers who are graduate students or enrolled in a degree-granting program at the time of application are not eligible. For 2026–2027 fellowships, submit up to 10 poems of any length or a short story, a recent book chapter, or an essay totaling no more than 30 pages; a curriculum vitae; a project proposal; and contact information for three references by September 11. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for the required entry form and complete guidelines.

A prize of $2,500 and publication of an excerpt in Scandinavian Review is given annually for an English translation of a work of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction written in a Nordic language (Danish, Faroese, Finnish, Greenlandic, Icelandic, Norwegian, Sami, or Swedish). A prize of $2,000 and publication is also awarded annually to a translator whose literary translations from a Nordic language have not previously been published. An additional prize of $2,000 and publication is awarded for a translation from the Danish. Translations of works by 20th- and 21st-century Nordic authors that have not been published in English are eligible for all three prizes. Using only the online submission system, submit 15 to 25 pages of poetry in translation or 25 to 50 pages of prose in translation, a copy of the original work, a biographical statement about the author whose writing is being translated and the significance of their work, a document signed by or on behalf of the author granting permission for the translation to be entered into the competition, and a curriculum vitae by September 15. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a single poem about the state of Colorado or written by a poet residing in Colorado. José A. “Tony” Alcántara will judge. Submit a poem of up to 125 lines totaling no more than three pages with a $12 entry fee ($30 for three poems) by August 31. Visit the website for complete guidelines.