2012 Chapbook Contest Guidelines
The New Michigan Press / DIAGRAM chapbook contest announces our guidelines for 2012. We pick the majority of our chapbook list each year from the ranks of the chapbook contest finalists, so this is the best way to get your work read by our eager readers.
$1000 plus publication; finalist chapbooks also considered for publication
$17.00 March 30, 2012 Interesting, lovely unpublished work (unpublished as a whole; individual pieces may be published already of course), prose or poetry or some combination or something between genres, 18-44 manuscript pages (no more than one poem per page if you're sending poems unless they are very, very short)
Yes. You must be able to obtain reprint rights (and high-res image files) for any images you include, though we recommend the manuscript be at a relatively low-res to keep file size down; please don't send originals of anything, since we cannot return manuscripts.
It's fine with us if individual works have been published elsewhere, but the manuscript can't have been published as a whole before. Please include specific acknowledgments if any of the works have appeared elsewhere: tell us where individual pieces appeared, as we do consider submitted and unpublished individual pieces for possible publication in DIAGRAM.
We recommend that your manuscript be as coherent--as much a project--as possible. Not to say everything needs to be thematic or narratively related, but most of our winning chapbooks have a feeling of aesthetic unity or resonance:books should make sense as books. Chapbook manuscripts do not necessarily have to be diagrammatic (though the diagrammers among us do enjoy those).
Co-authored manuscripts are fine.
Submitting multiple manuscripts is fine with entry fees for each.
Please don't put your name/identifying info on the piece itself. If you send electronically, it'll be in the submitter info only. If you send via the mail, include a detachable cover page.
Email nmp--at--thediagram.com with further questions if you have them.
REQUIRED STEP ONE: Pay contest fee through Paypal* by filling out the form below with your last name and the manuscript title, then clicking on the [Add to Cart] button just below this paragraph. You may use a credit card if you like (or a checking account etc.). No need to create an account. Once you complete step one it will click through to a page with step two on it (also copied below just in case).
Last Name/Title of Entry
Great. Note that the payment goes to New Michigan Press, the publisher of DIAGRAM.
*If you have a hard time with paypal for any reason, drop us a line. We can take credit cards directly if you'll send us the info via email (card #, CVV (3 digit code on back), expiration date, billing address w/zipcode) at nmp--at--thediagram--dot--com.
REQUIRED STEP TWO (COPIED FROM THE PAGE THAT PAYPAL WILL DIRECT YOU TO AFTER PAYMENT: submit your manuscript through our Submissions Manager system [here]. You'll have to create an account with the system if you haven't submitted to us before. Make SURE, SURE, that when you enter the submission's genre, you choose CHAPBOOK CONTEST SUBMISSION ONLY. Do NOT select "fiction," "poetry," or anything else. That way it gets read, processed, and responded-to properly (our contest submissions go through a different reading process than regular submissions). If you submit under something else things will get munged (though we are happy to read your non-contest submissions whenever, of course) and you'll have to resubmit. Please give us some kind of cover letter if you like. Or not.
Note: only one file may be submitted through the submissions manager. PDF preferred, or Word format (.doc, .docx), or .rtf is fine if necessary (we cannot read any other word processing formats; sorry). If your submission is more than one file, copy and paste it into one file or otherwise attach it. A zipfile would be acceptable if that's easier.
If you'd like your complimentary copy of the winning chapbook (or another chapbook in our series—please specify which, if any, on the envelope), mail us a self-addressed 6" x 9" envelope with $2 of postage (in USA—$6 is a safe bet if you're sending from overseas). If you do not care, there is no need for this.
If you send electronically you'll be notified electronically by default. No SASE required unless you want a copy of the winning chapbook. If you'd like us to send you a hardcopy results letter, that's fine (then send us a SASE as specified below).
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How to Get Your Work to Us (old school hard copy postal mail: also OK)
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If you'd rather send traditional mail, fine. Mail your manuscript and check (made out to New Michigan Press--or pay online above if you'd rather and include the receipt) for $17 to: NMP/DIAGRAM Chapbook Contest, English Department, P.O. Box 210067, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0067. So, make sure you send us a business-sized SASE with $0.46 (or a forever stamp) of postage if you'd like notification of the results by mail in the USA. Manuscripts cannot be returned (sorry—please don't send your only copy). Optional: enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard if you'd like confirmation that we received your manuscript. Enclose a self-addressed 6" x 9" envelope with $2 of postage (in USA—$6 is a safe bet if you're sending from overseas; no IRCs please) if you would like a complimentary copy of the winning chapbook (or another chapbook in our series—please specify which, if any, on the envelope; we'll honor requests if we have the chapbook in stock). If you do not care, there is no need for this. Please send your manuscripts via airmail for best results. And please do not send submissions certified mail, express mail, or anything we have to sign for; it's a pain and if we're not at the office, we're not going to be able to make a trip to the post office, which is a drag in Arizona, to pick up your manuscript. If you want to overnight it, fine, just please check the "no signature req'd" box. |
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Judge
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We don't have a celebrity judge for our chapbook contest. Since we pick the majority of our chapbooks from the submissions to the contest, we judge everything internally. The final judge is our editor, Ander Monson. Readers change year to year. We read anonymously and try to vary our aesthetic year to year. Still, we like what we like. To find out what we like, you should probably check out our authors if you haven't already. |
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Okay
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That's it. Good luck! |