Three Omnidawn Poetry Book Competitions:

Chapbook Competition (Jan-Feb), 1st/2nd Book Competition (May-Jun), & Open Poetry Competition (Aug 1-Nov 15)

The winner of each of the three Omnidawn poetry book competitions wins either a $1,000 or a $3,000 cash prize, publication of the book by Omnidawn, 100 free copies of the winning book, and extensive display advertising and publicity. All three Omnidawn poetry book contests have very similar eligibility requirements, guidelines, and submission procedures, including online and postal submissions. The only differences are the contest dates, the judge, the dollar amount of the prize, the reading fee, the manuscript page limit, an optional Omnidawn book offer, and for one contest only, the First/Second Book Poetry Contest, a limit on the number of the previously published full-size books by a submitting poet. These differences are described immediately below, under the "Current Poetry Competition" and "Upcoming Poetry Competitions" headings.

Current Poetry Competition

2011 Open Book ($3,000 & Publication)                    August 1–November 15, 2011        Judge: Carl Phillips

Open poetry book competition for writers with no limitations on the amount of poetry a writer has published and no page count limitation. (Note that the deadline for this poetry book contest has been extended from October 31 to November 15, 2011.) Online and postal submissions accepted. Reading fee is $25. For $3 extra to cover shipping cost, entrants who provide a U.S. mailing address may choose to receive any Omnidawn book (including 4 PEN USA winning books) or this poetry competitions winning book. The winner will be announced on this web page in March 2012, and we expect to publish the winning book in the spring of 2013. Click here for full details.

Upcoming Poetry Competitions

2012 Chapbook ($1,000 & Publication)                     January 1–February 29, 2012      Judge: Joseph Lease

Chapbook competition open to writers with no limitations on the amount of poetry a writer has published. Poetry chapbook contest submissions should be 20–40 pages of poetry, not including front and back matter (so that this will fit in a 5.5 x 7 inch published chapbook of approximately 50 pages or less). Online and postal submissions accepted. Reading fee is $15 for the poetry chapbook contest. For $2 extra to cover shipping cost, entrants who provide a U.S. mailing address may choose to receive any Omnidawn chapbook or this chapbook competitions winning book. The poetry chapbook contests winner will be announced on this web page in July 2012, and we expect to publish the chapbook contest winning book in the fall of 2012. Click here for full details.

2012 First/Second Book ($3,000 & Publication)    April 1–June 30, 2012                Judge: Brenda Hillman

First/Second Book poetry contest open to writers who have either never published a full-length book of poetry, or who have published only one full-length book of poetry, so that the poetry book contests winning book would become a poet's first or second published book of poetry. Writers who have published two or more full length books of poetry are NOT eligible. (Chapbooks do not count.) The manuscript page limit is 120 pages for this poetry book contest. (Most manuscripts we receive are 40-70 pages long.) Online and postal submissions accepted. Reading fee is $25 for this poetry book contest. For $3 extra to cover shipping cost, entrants who provide a U.S. mailing address may choose to receive any Omnidawn book (including 4 PEN USA winning books) or this poetry competitions winning book. The contests poetry winner will be announced on this web page in November 2012, and we expect to publish this poet contests winning book in the fall of 2013. Click here for full details.

Eligibility

1. This contest is open to all writers. (There is no limitation based on the number of poetry books a writer has published.)
2. There is no page limit for this contest. Most manuscripts we receive are between 40 and 70 pages, although larger manuscripts over 100 pages are perfectly acceptable. We do recommend that manuscripts be at least 40 pages in length.
3. Individual poems in a manuscript may have been previously published. However, full manuscripts that have been previously published or self-published as books are NOT eligible.
4. The manuscript must be original and in English. Translations are NOT eligible. However, it is perfectly acceptable to use some words from other languages occasionally in poems.
5. Manuscripts by more than one author are NOT eligible.
6. Friends, colleagues, and past or present students of the judge are NOT eligible to compete. Past or present Omnidawn staff or interns are NOT eligible to compete.

 

Guidelines

• Simultaneous submissions of the same manuscript to other contests, including other Omnidawn contests, are acceptable but please notify us with an email to submissions@omnidawn.com if your manuscript has been accepted elsewhere.
• Multiple submissions to this contest are acceptable, but each manuscript must be submitted separately, with a separate entry fee.
• We prefer manuscripts that have been paginated.
• No revisions to submitted manuscripts will be allowed during the contest.
• We will announce contest results via advertising, on our websites, and via email, including display advertisements in the print publications of American Poetry Review, Poets & Writers Magazine, Rain Taxi Review of Books, and other publications, and announcements on this web page (www.omnidawn.com/contest) and the Omnidawn blog (http://omnidawn.wordpress.com). If you provide us with an email address as part of your contact information we will also send you an email notification of the contest winner and finalists.