Deadlines: December & January 2025
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 December or January, including New American Press, Midway Journal, Humana Obscura, and more.
DEADLINE: 12/22
WE SEEK THE FOLLOWING:
We strongly favor work with depth and unique insight that explores the human condition and leans toward unusual, possibly urgent, and slightly unhinged. Life is absurd, and we like being moved in unexpected ways by its absurdity.
Humor is all about, well, humor. We’re looking for terrible elevator pitches, delightful fangirl 4th-grade book reports, and hand-drawn pie charts.
Submit 1-3 poems in one file. Please do not include your name on the document—we prefer to read anonymous submissions.
Reading Fee: none
DEADLINE: 12/31
We believe in poetry, in literature, and in the importance and magic of new writing. Poetry is one of the most ancient and revered forms of creative expression, stretching back to the dawn of literature. Poetry competitions represent a wonderful opportunity for writers to showcase new work, gain the recognition they deserve, advance their writing careers, and reach a wide audience.
The literary mission of The Letter Review includes fostering accessibility to the professional writing industry, and supporting writers at all stages in their efforts to be published, performed, and produced. Pursuant to this our Prize offers:
- The top 2-4 winning entries of the Prize for Poetry are declared the Winners, and share equally in the Prize pool of $1000 USD.
- To recognize the abilities of the writers who do not place as a Winner, 10-20 entries are Shortlisted.
- Winning entries are published by The Letter Review online, and in our Winners Anthology.
- All entries are considered for publication.
- Winning entries are also frequently submitted to further prestigious anthologies such as the Pushcart Prize.
- Winners and Shortlisted entries are celebrated on our mailing list, social media channels (FB 37,000 members), at our website (50,000 monthly visitors), and our Subreddit (11K).
- Winners may request a professional recommendation / endorsement of their work in the form of a letter from our Judges which they may submit to agents, publishers etc.
- Winners may also participate in our interview series, further raising their professional profile.
Reading Fee: $15
DEADLINE: 12/31
Action/Words Poetry Contest seeks submissions that call for, enact, or reflect upon connections between poetry and praxis. Each fall, the Midway team will select a verb to serve as the “action word” and theme for that year’s contest. This year, we have selected the verb “to split.” We welcome writers to submit poems that respond directly or indirectly to the various meanings of this term.
Judge: Ana Božičević
First Prize: $300 + publication in Midway Journal
Second Prize: $150 + publication in Midway Journal
Third Prize: $50 + publication in Midway Journal
Poetry: up to 3 poems per entry. Any style. No word limits. No more than one poem per page.
Reading fee: $10 (unlimited entries)
DEADLINE: 12/31
Bodega Magazine: Poetry
Bodega releases digital issues on the first Monday of every month, featuring poetry, prose, and occasional interviews by established and emerging writers. We’re here to give you a handful of essential pieces you can digest in one sitting.
Submit up to 3 previously unpublished poems in a single document (3 pages max).
Reading Fee: none
DEADLINE: 1/1
Humana Obscura is an independent literary magazine that seeks to publish nature-focused poetry and art by new, emerging, and established writers and artists from around the world.
Humana Obscura is now accepting submissions of poetry and art for its new anthology! The theme of our first anthology is “blue,” and however you interpret it—as the sky, the ocean, the shade of a particular flower, or an emotion.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Poetry – Up to 5 poems (or up to 10 haiku, tanka, or other forms of micropoetry 5 lines or less). Please include all poems in one document.
In keeping with the anthology’s theme, a percentage of submission fees will be donated to Ocean Conservancy. Ocean Conservancy is a nonprofit environmental advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., United States. The organization seeks to promote healthy and diverse ocean ecosystems, prevent marine pollution, climate change and advocates against practices that threaten oceanic and human life.
Reading Fee: $10
DEADLINE: 1/2
Hawai`i Pacific Review is the online literary magazine of Hawai`i Pacific University. It features poetry and prose by authors from Hawai`i, the mainland, and around the world.
Hawai`i Pacific Review seeks poetry that speak with a powerful and unique voice. While we often feature work from and about Hawai`i and the Pacific, we are interested in high-quality literature from all regions and on all topics.
Submission Guidelines:
- Submit each poem as a separate submission
- No more than 3 poems at a time (Submit each poem as separate submissions)
- Attach as a WORD document
- Simultaneous submission are considered (please withdraw via submittable if accepted elsewhere)
- Because we try to be readable on all sorts of screens and devices, we can’t do justice to poems with unorthodox spacing. For this reason, we strongly prefer poetry that sticks to the left margin.
Reading fee: none
DEADLINE: 1/10
OxMag: Issue 53: Crystal Ox Poetry Contest
The first OxMag Crystal Ox Poetry Contest was held in Winter 2022 and published as part of Issue 49. We’re continuing this tradition of celebrating poetry by opening the Crystal Ox Poetry Contest of Issue 53!
Please send us your best work (one poem only). If you send more than one poem, we will read only the first poem you send. Cover letters are not necessary, but a brief reader bio is required (~50 words).
Submissions will be open until January 10th or until we reach our submission cap, whichever comes first.
Awards will go to three winners (1st, 2nd, & 3rd place).
Reading Fee: none
DEADLINE: 1/15
Molecule is an online journal publishing poetry, prose, plays, interviews, reviews, and visual art twice annually. All work should be 50 words or less (including titles, interview questions, etc).
Why 50 words?
Well, imagine the smallest visible particle of a molecule to be in the form of a cube. Then, there would be on the side of the cube, in a row, 50 such molecules. Or in the cube, 50 x 50 x 50 (Weismann, 1901).
Molecule accepts submissions of poetry in 50 words or less. Visual artwork of tiny things like tea bags and toothpicks, or tiny paintings, also wanted: no skyscrapers please!
We have a strict word count. Don’t try and trick us we have tiny minds. All submissions should be previously unpublished work.
Reading Fee: none
DEADLINE: 1/15
The 2025 New American Poetry Prize is open for submissions. Deadline is January 15, 2025.
The winning manuscript will be published and its author will receive $1500, promotional support, and 25 author copies.
Manuscripts should be at least 48 pages, but there is no maximum length. All forms and styles of poetry are welcome.
Final judge this year is SARA ELIZA JOHNSON, whose first book, Bone Map (Milkweed, 2014), was selected for the 2013 National Poetry Series. Her second book of poetry, Vapor, was released by Milkweed in 2022. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, the Rona Jaffe Foundation, and the VCCA, among other honors, and is currently an associate professor at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
Reading fee: $25
DEADLINE: 1/31
Trace Fossils Review: Poetry — Issue Two || Spring
Welcome to submissions for Trace Fossils Review!
To start, the type of material we crave here is difficult. Difficult to comprehend, difficult to put on paper, and difficult to submit. This review was created first and foremost as a refuge for the work that feels hard as stone, that leaves us possessed.
Because this is the genre we cherish most, our promise to you is that we will treat your thoughts as we treat an old house: tenderly, with open ears and the knowledge that it will never be truly ours. Thank you for honoring us with your pieces. For trusting us to foster something resonant inside these walls.
We look forward to experiencing your work.
Warmest thanks,
Jessie & Elliott Kate
Guidelines
Poetry: Up to 3 pieces per period. No longer than 132 lines in length (a total three pages in our print issues). Submit all poetry in Times New Roman, 12pt font, single spaced. We accept .docx and .word files. Please include all submissions in ONE FILE.
We pride ourselves on publishing upcoming authors. Feel free to mention past experience within your author bio, but that was, well, past. We are interested in the now. Reinvent.
Reading fee: none