Deadlines: February & March 2023
Every middle of the month: new deadlines, new contests, and new opportunities for your work to find its audience. Here is a roundup of ten submission opportunities with deadlines in February or March, including Electric Literature, Fugue Journal, Black Warrior Review, and more.
DEADLINE: 02/20
The Commuter is Electric Literature’s home for poetry, flash, graphic, and experimental narratives. It publishes weekly on Monday morning and is open to poetry submissions for a few more days! Submit 4–6 poems in a single document, and please limit the page count to 8. Keep in mind that due to their digital platform, not all poems may render exactly as they appear in a PDF. If your work is selected, they offer a total payment of $100.
Reading Fee: none
DEADLINE: 2/24
This annual prize seeks out new voices in poetry, providing a platform for publication in the UK’s oldest literary journal and an award of £500. All poems submitted must be previously unpublished and no longer than 40 lines. The London Magazine has no criteria as to theme, form, or style but they are looking for fresh, diverse, and innovative new work. The competition is open to international entries. This year’s poetry shortlist will be judged by Maya C. Popa, whose poetry collection, American Faith, won the 2020 North American Book Prize.
Reading fee: £10 per poem
DEADLINE: 02/28
Sycamore Review Wabash Prize in Poetry
Send up to three unpublished poems of no more than six total pages. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable. Each piece will be read by at least two Sycamore staffers, with the winner selected by the final judge, Luther Hughes. If you are personally affiliated with the judge, please do not submit. All contest submissions will be considered for regular publication in Sycamore Review. Note: Sycamore Review highly encourages BIPOC and trans writers to submit their work, and offers free submissions to the first 40 people in each genre. Email Weiji Wang (wang5341@purdue.edu) for fee waivers.
Reading Fee: Sliding Scale
DEADLINE: 03/01
From April through November, Millay Arts invites 6-7 multidisciplinary artists for month-long stays at Steepletop, the historic estate of poet/activist Edna St. Vincent Millay. They also have two-week residencies in June and September and a residency for collectives (3-7 participants) in December. The core residency includes private bedrooms and studios, shared living spaces, laundry room, workstation, B&W darkroom, and use of the Alumni and Nancy Graves Memorial libraries. Groceries are also provided along with communal dinners (prepared by an in-house chef).
Application Fee: $45
DEADLINE: 03/01
BWR seeks to publish poems that are experimental in form, creation process, content, and/or reading method; representative of non-traditional voices and contemporary issues; and/or impressive in their wholeness, but also in their minutiae. Submit up to 5 unpublished poems with a maximum of 10 pages in one document. If you are a Black, Indigenous, or incarcerated writer, you may email your submission to poetry.bwr@gmail.com for no fee. BWR pays a one-year subscription and a nominal lump-sum fee for all works published.
Reading fee: $3 (see above note)
DEADLINE: 03/01
Gulf Coast
Gulf Coast welcomes and appreciates submissions from writers and artists of all backgrounds and aesthetic affiliations. Submit up to 5 unpublished poems for consideration for an upcoming print issue. Simultaneous submissions are permitted. Gulf Coast pays $50 per .doc or PDF page for poetry, fiction, and nonfiction in print issues.
Reading Fee: $3
DEADLINE: 03/01
The University of Wisconsin’s Institute for Creative Writing provides time, space, and an intellectual community for writers working on a first book of poetry or fiction, while developing their skills as instructors in one of North America’s top-ranked creative writing programs. At present, the Institute offers up to five internationally competitive nine-month fellowships each year. Typically, two are poetry fellowships (the Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellowship and the Ronald Wallace Poetry Fellowship). Each of these fellowships carries with it a stipend of at least $39,000. Any applicant with an MFA or Ph.D. in creative writing (or any applicant who will receive an MFA/Ph.D. by August 15, 2023) is eligible to apply, as long as the applicant has published or is under contract for no more than one collection of poetry and/or book-length work of fiction or creative nonfiction. Applicants who have not yet drafted or published a book are eligible, as well.
Application fee: $50
DEADLINE: 03/15
Submissions should include 1-3 poems per submission in a .doc, .docx (preferred), or .PDF document. Multiple submissions are considered as long as a separate fee is paid for each. Contest winners in poetry receive $1,000 and publication in Fugue’s 2024 print issue. All entries are considered for publication. This year’s judge is Kaveh Akbar.
Reading fee: $20
DEADLINE: 03/15
National Poetry Series Open Competition
Five winning poets will each receive a $10,000 cash prize in addition to having a full-length manuscript published by a participating publisher. Open to U.S. residents and American citizens living abroad. All manuscripts must be previously unpublished in their complete form, although some or all of the individual poems may have appeared in periodicals. Translations, chapbooks, small groups of poems, and self-published books are not eligible. Finalists will be notified by approximately May 31 of the calendar year. The finalists’ manuscripts will then be submitted to five separate judges for consideration. The five winning authors are notified by approximately August 31 of the calendar year. All finalists will be notified of their status at that time.
Reading fee: $35
DEADLINE: 03/15
Prairie Schooner Raz-Shumaker Book Prize
The Prairie Schooner Raz-Shumaker Book Prize Series welcomes manuscripts from all living writers, including non-US citizens, writing in English. Both unpublished and published writers are welcome to submit manuscripts. We will not consider manuscripts that have previously been published, which includes self-publication. Winners will receive $3000 and publication through the University of Nebraska Press. Simultaneous submissions are accepted.
Reading fee: $25