A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize

The A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize is awarded to honor a poet's first book, while also honoring the late founder of BOA Editions, Ltd., a not-for-profit publishing house of poetry and poetry in translation. [Get the entry form]

FINAL JUDGE: Dorianne Laux [Bio]

WINNER RECEIVES:

A $1,500 Honorarium and book publication by BOA Editions, Ltd. in spring 2014, in the A. Poulin, Jr. New Poets of America Series.

ELIGIBILITY:

• Entrants must be a citizen or legal resident of the United States.

• Poets, who are at least 18 years of age, who have yet to publish a full-length-book collection of poetry.

• Translations are not eligible.

• Individual poems from the manuscript may have been published previously in magazines, journals, anthologies, chapbooks of 32 pages or less, or self-published books of 46 pages or less, but must be submitted in manuscript form. Published books in other genres do not disqualify contestants from entering this contest.

• Employees, volunteers and board members of BOA Editions, Ltd., or their partners or spouses, or their immediate families, or immediate family of the judge are not eligible.

• As per the Publishing Contest Ethics, as advanced by the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP), any person who has studied poetry in a formal program with the Final Judge -- through a college, university, community program, residency, or private tutorial, within the last two years -- is not eligible to submit a manuscript to this contest.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES REQUIREMENTS:

Send one copy of the manuscript, our entry form, and the $25 entry fee, to BOA Editions, Ltd. between August 1 and November 30, 2012 at the address listed below. Make check or money orders payable to BOA Editions. Do not pay by credit card.

MANUSCRIPT FORMAT:

• Minimum of 48 pages, maximum of 100 pages of poetry.

• Manuscript should be 1 1/2 or double spaced.

• At least 11pt. font.

• Name address and telephone number must appear on the title or cover page of the manuscript.

• Do not send artwork or photographs.

• Typed or word-processed on standard white paper, on one side of the page only.

• Paginated consecutively with a table of contents.

• Bound with a spring clip (no paperclips, please).

• Attach publications acknowledgments if any.

• Include a stamped, self-addressed postcard for notification of receipt of manuscript.

• Do not send by FedEx or UPS.

• Electronic and fax submissions will not be accepted.

• Neither late nor early manuscripts will be accepted.

• Contestants may submit the manuscript elsewhere simultaneously, but must notify BOA Editions immediately, by mail in an envelope, (not a postcard or email), if a manuscript is accepted by another publisher.

• Once submitted, manuscripts cannot be altered. Winner will be given the opportunity to revise before publication.

• Contestants may submit more than one manuscript, but a separate entry fee and entry form must accompany each manuscript.

• Manuscripts mailed from foreign countries risk not being received before final selections have been made.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES SUGGESTED:

• Send manuscript in a plain or padded envelope. Please no boxes.

• For notification of competition results, include a business-size SASE.

• Keep a copy of your manuscript, as manuscripts will not be returned.

• We advise that you send your manuscript by first class or priority mail.

ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

• The winner will be announced in March 2013.

• Winning manuscript will be published in spring 2014, in an original paperback edition in the [A. Poulin, Jr. New Poets of America Series].

• The winner will retain full copyright of his or her work.

• The paper from all manuscripts will be recycled after the winner is announced.

• BOA Editions assumes no responsibility for loss of manuscripts.

Send manuscripts, postmarked between August 1 and November 30, 2012, to:

BOA Editions, Ltd.
PO Box 30971
Rochester, NY 14604