The Mississippi Valley Poetry Chapbook Competition annually invites submissions for the
election of one poet’s collection to be published by MWC Press. Submissions must be
postmarked between May 1 and July 31 each year. The annual winner is announced online
in November.
Past winners include Stephen Frech, The Dark Villages of Childhood (2008), and Meghan Brinson,
Broken Plums on the Sidewalk (2009).
Mississippi Valley Poetry Chapbook Competition
2010 Judge
Jennifer Perrine
Jennifer Perrine’s first book of poetry, The Body Is No Machine, was published by New Issues in 2007 and won the 2008 Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award in Poetry. Other recent awards include the U.S. Poets in Mexico Mérida Fellowship and first prize in the Black Warrior Review Fourth-Ever Poetry Contest and the Virginia Arts of the Books Center Taste 'Test. Her poetry has appeared in a variety of journals, including Connecticut Review, Crab Orchard Review, RATTLE, and Third Coast. Perrine lives in Des Moines, Iowa, and works at Drake University, where she organizes the Writers & Critics Series and teaches courses in creative writing, queer literature and theories, and gender studies.
Review Guidelines
Submit between 16 to 24 pages of poetry; manuscripts should be paginated and secured with a binder clip
(no staples). No names or identifying information should appear on the poems.
Enclose one cover page that includes:
o - chapbook title
o - author name
o - address
o - phone
o - email
Enclose a second cover page that includes only the chapbook title to allow for blind review.
No cover letter is required; however, if poems have been previously published, an acknowledgments
page should be included. Poems may be more than one page in length, but only one poem per page.
Midwest Writing Center will publish the winning chapbook through MWC Press and make it available
for sale. No manuscripts will be returned. Submissions that arrive ‘postage due’ will be returned unopened.
Submission Information
Submissions should be sent directly to Midwest Writing Center (see address below).
Contest results will be announced via email. If you wish to receive the results in the mail, please include a
SASE. All entries that include a check for $3 postage will receive a complimentary copy of the winning
chapbook. Contact the contest administrator with any questions by emailing contest@midwestwritingcenter.org"> contest@midwestwritingcenter.org
with the word “chapbook:” in the subject line.
Deadline Dates
Submissions must be postmarked between May 1 and July 31 each year.
Prizes
The winner of the Mississippi Valley Poetry Chapbook Contest will receive $100 prize money, have his/her
manuscript published by Midwest Writing Center, and receive 15 free copies of the finished chapbook.
Reading Fee
There is a $15 reading fee per chapbook entry (multiple submissions accepted). If paying reading fee by
check, make check payable to MWC and include payment with the manuscript submission to:
Midwest Writing Center
Mississippi Valley Poetry Chapbook Contest
225 E. 2nd St., Suite 303
Davenport, IA 52801
MasterCard and Visa are also accepted (please send your name as it appears on the card, the card number,
expiration date, and v-code along with your manuscript) or reading fee may be paid online via PayPal.
Restrictions
As a member of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses and CLMP's community of independent literary
publishers, Midwest Writing Center believes that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of
process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, friends, relatives, and/or past or current students
of judges have been deemed ineligible to enter this contest, as have past and current board members and
employees of the Midwest Writing Center.
