May Sarton First Book Contest

The May Sarton New Hampshire First Book Prize

Deadline: June 30, 2011

In honor of May Sarton’s 100th birthday (May 3, 2012), Bauhan Publishing is launching the May Sarton New Hampshire First Book Prize. In conjunction with the prize competition, we will re-issue Sarton’s collection, As Does New Hampshire, which we initially published in 1967.

The May Sarton New Hampshire First Book Prize welcomes submissions from poets who have yet to publish a full-length poetry manuscript. Entrants may reside anywhere in the world, but must write in English. The winner receives $1000, book publication, and 100 copies of the published book. New Hampshire Poet Laureate Walter Butts will serve as final judge.

The newly publishied May Sarton New Hampshire book prize edition and As Does New Hampshire will be released at the celebration of May Sarton’s 100th birthday – a conference being held in York, Maine, May 3-6, 2012. 

Submission guidelines:
1. Manuscripts must be typed, paginated, and 50 to 80 pages in length (single spaced). Single or double-sided manuscripts are acceptable. Your name should not appear on the manuscript itself.

2. Individual poems in the manuscript may have been previously published in magazines, journals, anthologies, or chapbooks of 32 pages or less, but the collection as a whole must be unpublished.

3. Translations and self-published books are not eligible. The manuscript must be the product of only one author. 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.

4. The manuscript should include a table of contents and a list of acknowledgments for poems previously published.

5. Submit two title pages with the manuscript, one that has only the title of the collection and one that includes the title, your name, address, e-mail address, and phone number. Manuscripts cannot be returned. Please do not send your only copy.

6. No illustrations, photographs or images should be included.

7. Send one copy of your manuscript submission. Use only binder clips or rubber bands. No staples, folders, or printer-bound copies.

8. For notification of winners, include a business-sized SASE. For acknowledgment of the receipt of your manuscript, include a stamped addressed postcard. Winners will be announced by January, 2012.

9. Entry fee is $25. Enclose a check or money order payable to Bauhan Publishing.

10. Send manuscripts to:

May Sarton NH Prize
Bauhan Publishing
7 Main Street
Peterborough, NH 03458

11. Manuscripts must be postmarked on or before June 30, 2011.

12. Bauhan Publishing reserves the right to cancel the contest for any reason. In that unlikely event, all entry fees will be returned to contestants.