2010 Bull City Press First Book Prize

Call for Manuscripts
April 1, 2010 - August 1, 2010

The 2010 Bull City Press First Book Prize honors a book of individual poetry in English by a single author; translations and collaborative works are not eligible for this award.  The winning poet will receive 50 copies of the published book.  A list of the winner and finalists will be listed on the Bull City Press web site.

The 2010 Bull City Press First Book Prize will be judged by an editorial board consisting of executive director Ross White, managing editor Marielle Prince, and Matthew Olzmann.

The winning volume will be published in 2011 by Bull City Press.

 

ELIGIBILITY

The 2010 Bull City Press First Book Prize is open to any poet writing in English who has not previously published a book-length collection of poetry.  Simultaneous submissions are permissible, but entrants are asked to notify Bull City Press immediately if a manuscript becomes committed elsewhere.

Please do not submit to this contest if you are close enough to a member of the editorial board that his/her integrity or the integrity of Bull City Press would be called into question should you be selected as the winner. You may query us if you have questions regarding this matter. Please query by email to <submissions@bullcitypress.com>.

 

SUBMITTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT

Entries must be submitted between April 1, 2010 and August 1, 2010.  All entries must be submitted to our online submissions manager.  Entries submitted by e-mail, fax, or US mail are not permitted and will be disqualified.  Entries must be accompanied by a $20 entry fee, payable through PayPal.  Entrants may submit multiple manuscripts, but must pay a $20 entry fee for each manuscript submitted.

Manuscripts should be 48 to 100 pages of poetry, consecutively numbered, single-spaced, and should include a table of contents.  Manuscripts should be submitted in rich text (.rtf) or Microsoft Word (.doc) format only.  Manuscripts submitted in another file format are not permitted and will be disqualified. Manuscript revisions are not permitted during the contest.

The author's name should not appear on the manuscript.  

To submit your manuscript, please follow these steps:

 

1. Click on the "Pay Now" button below.
   
   
2. Complete your payment with PayPal.
3. After completing your payment, you will be returned to the contest submission website at http://bullcitypress.com/submissions/contest.php.  PayPal will send a confirmation to your e-mail address.  Copy the Unique Transaction ID from that e-mail.
4. Fill in all contact information.
5. Fill in the title of the manuscript you are submitting.
6. Under genre, select "2010 contest manuscript ($20 entry fee required)."
7. Use the browse button to find the file on your computer that you would like to submit. Select the file and click on the open button. Your file will then appear in the "file" field.
8. Paste your Unique Transaction ID from PayPal into comments field with any additional information you'd like to send, then click submit.
9. You will then have the option to review your information and confirm that it is correct. Hit continue and you're done.

OUR READING PROCESS

Each manuscript is delivered to our preliminary readers as a blind submission. That is, it is stripped of identifying material. Only the manuscript, inclusive of any text notes, is sent to the readers and, if chosen as a semi-finalist, to the editorial board. Preliminary readers are asked to notify the press if the work in a submitted manuscript is familiar to them, in which case it will be reassigned as a blind submission to another reader.

Our preliminary readers for the contest are selected by the publisher of Bull City Press and are published poets, experienced editors, and/or poets who have received a graduate degree in creative writing or literature. Our readers look for beautifully-crafted work, manuscripts that have a cohesive shape and feel like complete volumes.  They look to present a wide range of excellent work to the editorial board.

Semi-finalists are notified in September that their work will be sent on to the editorial board. The editorial board may, at its discretion, ask to review additional manuscripts-- they are not allowed to ask for work by a specific writer, but may ask to see a wider sampling of strong work. If that is the case, additional manuscripts are sent by reviewers to the editorial board as semi-finalists. Therefore, we do not inform the public of semi-finalist selections since that list may grow after September.

The editorial board will immediately report conflicts of interest. If a submitter contacts a member of the editorial board regarding the contest, that person will be disqualified.  In the event that the editorial board chooses no manuscript for publication, all contest fees will be returned.

Final notification of the contest winner and contest finalists will be provided by e-mail to all contest entrants in February, 2011.