Rattle Poetry Prize
Deadline: July 15, 2024
The annual Rattle Poetry Prize celebrates its 19th year with a 1st prize of $15,000 for a single poem. Ten finalists will also receive $500 each and publication, and be eligible for the $5,000 Readers' Choice Award, to be selected by subscriber and entrant vote. All of these poems will be published in the winter issue of the magazine.
With the winners judged in a masked review by the editors to ensure a fair and consistent selection, an entry fee that is simply a one-year subscription to the magazine—and a runner-up Readers' Choice Award to be chosen by the writers themselves—the Rattle Poetry Prize aims to be one of the most writer-friendly and popular poetry contests around.
We accept entries online and by mail. See Rattle's website for the complete guidelines and to read all of the past winners.
Please enjoy one of last year's finalist poems by Amy Miller, published in Rattle #82, Winter 2023:
UMBRELLA
Someone said Watch
the baby, so I watched her
sleep, small mouth with
a bubble at the edge. Handslike little double OKs. All
of human history pulsing
in the shallow vein
of her temple. A thin beigeumbrella over her head,
raindrops exploding
themselves against it,
trying to touch her.