This year we are introducing another contest to our roster: the chapbook competition! You can submit chapbooks up to 20 pages long (not counting a title page with just the title on it, a table of contents, and an acknowledgements page) between Dec. 1-31 on our Submittable page.
We are looking for remarkable poetry of all kinds–lyric, narrative, form, free verse, experimental–whatever you have, we’re interested! You can see more detailed guidelines here. We’re especially interested in manuscripts with an over-arching theme, but it’s not required.
The winning chapbook will be a 6×9 saddle-stitched book with a beautiful full-color cover.  Our contest winner will receive $500 plus 25 copies of the chapbook (and an opportunity to buy more should they want to).
The fee is $25. Everyone who enters the contest will receive a copy of the book!
Looking forward to reading your work!
Jen Karetnick will judge the top ten finalists. Here’s her bio from her webpage:
Poet, writer, food-travel journalist, dining critic, and educator Jen Karetnick is the author/co-author of 19 books, including five full-length poetry collections: Inheritance with a High Error Rate, winner of the 2022 Cider Review Press Book Award (January 10, 2024); The Burning Where Breath Used to Be (David Robert Books, 2020), 2021 CIPA EVVY Gold Medal winner, 2021 Eric Hoffer Poetry Category Finalist, and 2021 Kops-Fetherling Honorable Mention; The Treasures That Prevail (Whitepoint Press, September 2016), finalist for the 2017 North American Poetry Book Award from the Poetry Society of Virginia; American Sentencing (Winter Goose Publishing, May 2016), long-listed for both the 2017 Julie Suk Award and the 2017 Lascaux Prize; and Brie Season (White Violet Press, 2014). She is also the author of six poetry chapbooks: What Forges Us Steel: The Judge Judy Poems (Alternating Current Press, forthcoming 2024); The Crossing Over (March 2019), winner of the 2018 Split Rock Review Poetry Chapbook Contest, Prayer of Confession (Finishing Line Press, 2014); Landscaping for Wildlife (Big Wonderful Press, 2012); Bud Break at Mango House, winner of the 2008 Portlandia Prize; and Necessary Salt (Pudding House Publications, 2007).
