• Over 6,000 reviews are written every day at FanStory.com. You can learn from feedback that will be written on everything you write.

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Upcoming Contest Deadlines

Flash Fiction
Write a flash fiction piece that is between 500 and 800 words on the topic provided. The topic is "the writer". $100 prize for the winner of this writing contest.
Deadline: In six days - February 21

Naani Poetry
A Naani poem only has four lines. Read the announcement for a sample poem. $100 prize.
Deadline: February 28

Haiku Poem
Short and sweet. Can you make a statement with just three lines? $100 prize.
Deadline: March 5

Horror Story
Put your readers on edge or terrorize them for this horror writing contest. To the winner goes a $100 prize.
Deadline: March 22

These are only a few of our contests. View our full listings here.

Finding this site three years ago was a blessing to me. I am becoming the writer I wanted to be because of what I've learned at FanStory. I have had stories published (the publishers came to me), won the state contest last year in the short story category, and have been asked to speak at writers groups. Three years ago I couldn't write a grocery list. — Marti Hurst
— More Testimonials

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CONTESTS HOSTED AT WINNING WRITERS & OPEN NOW

Closing Next Month
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest
Postmark Deadline: March 31
Now in its 18th year. Prizes of $3,000, $1,000, $400 and $250 will be awarded, plus six Most Highly Commended Awards of $150 each. Submit any type of short story, essay or other work of prose, up to 5,000 words. You may submit work that has been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the online publication rights. $15 entry fee. Submit online or by mail. Early submission encouraged. This contest is sponsored by Tom Howard Books and assisted by Winning Writers. Judges: John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad. See the complete guidelines and past winners.

Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest - No Fee
Online Submission Deadline: April 1
Winning Writers invites you to enter the ninth annual Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest. We've simplified the entry process and increased the prize pool to $3,600, including a top prize of $1,500. There's still no fee to enter. Final judge: Jendi Reiter. See the complete guidelines and past winners.

War Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: May 31
We seek 1-3 original, unpublished poems on the theme of war for our ninth annual contest, up to 500 lines in total. We will award $5,000, including a top prize of $2,000. Submit online or by mail. The entry fee is $15. Final judge: Jendi Reiter. See the complete guidelines and past winners.

Margaret Reid Poetry Contest for Traditional Verse
Postmark Deadline: June 30
Now in its seventh year, this contest seeks poetry in traditional verse forms such as sonnets and free verse. Both published and unpublished poems are welcome. Prizes of $3,000, $1,000, $400 and $250 will be awarded, plus six Most Highly Commended Awards of $150 each. The entry fee is $7 for every 25 lines you submit. Submit online or by mail. Early submission encouraged. This contest is sponsored by Tom Howard Books and assisted by Winning Writers. Judges: John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad. See the complete guidelines and past winners.

Tom Howard/John H. Reid Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: September 30
Now in its eighth year, this contest seeks poems in any style, theme or genre. Both published and unpublished poems are welcome. Prizes of $3,000, $1,000, $400 and $250 will be awarded, plus six Most Highly Commended Awards of $150 each. The entry fee is $7 for every 25 lines you submit. Submit online or by mail. Early submission encouraged. This contest is sponsored by Tom Howard Books and assisted by Winning Writers. Judges: John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad. See the complete guidelines and past winners.

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TOM HOWARD/JOHN H. REID POETRY CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Rita McGregor is the winner of the seventh annual Tom Howard/John H. Reid Poetry Contest sponsored by Tom Howard Books. This year's contest awarded $5,450 in cash prizes, including a top prize of $2,000, for the best original poems in any style or theme. McGregor's poignant poem "Baby Girl" begins with the narrator watching an older man indulge his playful little girl at the bus stop. Though the pair don't seem to have much money, they are rich in love toward one another. The sweet scene touches the narrator with sadness as she recalls her own mother's crueler reaction to her youthful escapades. "Baby Girl" was judged the best of hundreds of entries from around the world.

Contest judges John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad said, "Rita McGregor has wedded theme, narrative and moral with such perfection, the poem engagingly flows and makes its devastating point with seemingly no effort on the poet's part at all. Now this is truly what the art of writing is all about!"

We congratulate Ms. McGregor, second prize winner Carmine Dandrea, third prize winner Tony Peyser, and fourth prize winner Susan J. Katz. Five High Distinction Awards of $200 went to Mary Jean Chan, Joseph Gorman, Susan Keith, Joseph A. Soldati, and Gisela Vigil. Seven Highly Commended Awards of $100 went to Clyta Coder, Elizabeth Davies, Harry E. Gilleland, Jr., Joseph Gorman, Martin Steele, and Marie Delgado Travis (two awards), bringing the total to $5,450.

Read all of the winning entries, the complete list of winners and the judges' comments. Read the press release. See the guidelines for this year's contest, open now.

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RECENT HONORS FOR OUR NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS
Winning Writers editor Jendi Reiter tied for third place in the 2009 Caesura Poetry Contest with her poem "What Dora Said to Agnes". Caesura is the literary journal of the Poetry Center San José. The most recent submission period for this $500 prize was August 17-November 17.

Congratulations to Katerina Stoykova-Klemer. Her poetry chapbook The Most will be released this spring by Finishing Line Press. The Most has been favorably reviewed by acclaimed poet Molly Peacock, Montana Poet Laureate Greg Pape, and others.

Congratulations to Fred McGavran. His award-winning short story collection The Butterfly Collector, published by Black Lawrence Press, is now available on Amazon.com.

Congratulations to Darrell Lindsey. He recently won First Prize in the 6th International Klostar Ivanic Haiku Contest in English 2009 and had two winning poems in the 2009 Tanka Splendor Awards. The two tanka are included in the paperback book Twenty Years Tanka Splendor, available through ahapoetry.com. He kindly shares his winning poems below.


RECENT HONORS FOR POETRY CONTEST INSIDER SUBSCRIBERS
Congratulations to Jon E. Seaman. His poem "Self-talk" won first prize in the 2009 Portland Pen Poetry Contest sponsored by the National League of American Pen Women, an opportunity he found in Poetry Contest Insider. This long-running contest offers a top prize of $150; the most recent deadline was November 7. In addition, his poem "Ghost Bikes" won first prize in the free verse category of the Oregon State Poetry Association's fall 2009 contest. The next deadline for this biannual contest, offering prizes of $50-$100 in various categories, will be March 1. Seaman's poem "Big Mike" was a finalist in the 2009 Naugatuck River Review Narrative Poetry Contest and will be published in an upcoming issue. This $1,000 award has a submission period of July 1-September 1. He writes, "I'm a very happy subscriber. Winning Writers is an essential tool in my success."

Congratulations to Berwyn Moore. Her poetry collection O Body Swayed was published in December by Cherry Grove Collections. Read sample poems here.

Congratulations to Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé. Various poems from his sequence "When Dada Rewrote Koans", which was selected by Mary Jo Bang as one of six finalists for the 2008 Noemi Press Poetry Chapbook Award, have spawned "plush" artefacts or soft sculptures, through the creative genius of artists Kelly Tang at I Want That, Gladys Phan at Kikeinosocks, and Weng Pixin at Dooinky Doodles. One poem has been interpreted by Nana Pong of Roomism into a limited edition line of keychains, badges, pouches, totes, and a handmade silver chain, which was exhibited at Fab Fibe Show 2009, an exhibition that brought together showpieces of fabric and paper artists from around the world. Another poem, "Fio at Semio Land's End", was penned by Desmond exclusively for Roomism's exhibit at Geisai Taiwan, which represented the work of 200 international artists. The biannual Geisai art show is the invention of contemporary Japanese art guru Takashi Murakami, selected by Time Magazine for inclusion in its "100 Most Influential People" list.


RECENT PUBLICATION CREDITS FOR OUR SUBSCRIBERS
Marvin Lurie's poem "Picking Wild Blackberries on the Sandy River Delta" was published in the Fall 2009 issue of Wild Goose Poetry Review. Read this issue as a PDF file here.

Christine Stark had an essay published in Otter Tail Review, Volume Three. Profits from all volumes of the Otter Tail Review are dedicated to library and literacy programs in the Upper Midwest. Volume Three continues in the tradition of the first two editions by featuring fiction, poetry, and essays from writers with connections to the Upper Midwest, with special emphasis on Minnesota authors. The anthology features the works of such well-known writers as Robert Bly, Mark Vinz, and Bill Holm (including some of his final work), as well as a wide and talented array of previously unpublished authors.


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TRY POETRY CONTEST INSIDER
If you enjoy using The Best Free Poetry Contests, consider upgrading to Poetry Contest Insider. The Best Free Poetry Contests profiles the 150 or so poetry contests that are free to enter. With your Poetry Contest Insider subscription, you'll get access to all of our 750+ poetry contest profiles, plus over 300 of the best prose contests. Contest rules, addresses and deadlines change constantly. We update Poetry Contest Insider nearly every day to stay on top of them. Search and sort contests by deadline, prize, fee, recommendation level and more. Access to Poetry Contest Insider is just $9.95 per quarter, with a free 10-day trial at the start. Cancel at any time.

Most contests charge entry fees. You can easily spend hundreds of dollars and many hours entering these contests each year. Don't waste your time or money. Out of hundreds of contests, there might only be two or three dozen that are especially appropriate for your work. We help you find them fast. Interviews and links to award-winning entries help you refine your craft. Learn more about Poetry Contest Insider.

"Your website is invaluable: definitely the best around. I have benefited greatly from the database of contests. Thank you and keep up the fantastic work!... Last year I received first prize in both the Dorothy Prizes and the Room of One's Own poetry competition—both of which I learned of through your database."
Vicki Duke, Alberta, Canada

See more testimonials here, plus coverage of Winning Writers in Writer's Digest and The Writer, or start your trial now.

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THE BEST FREE POETRY CONTESTS
Deadlines: February 16-March 31

Here is a summary of upcoming free poetry contests. Click the contest names to be taken directly to their profiles (you may be asked to login on your first click of the day). You may also view the profiles by logging in to The Best Free Poetry Contests here and clicking the Find Free Contests link to search for contests by name.

Forgot your password? Need a password?
Please go to http://www.winningwriters.com/forgot_password.php
We will email your password to you within minutes.

Winning Writers gathers contest information from a wide variety of sources including publishers' press releases, online link directories, Poets & Writers Magazine, and e-newsletters such as TOTAL FundsforWriters, The Practicing Writer, and CRWROPPS. We encourage readers to explore these useful resources, and let us know about worthwhile contests we may have missed.

2/19: Michigan High-School Poetry Contest +
Formerly January 30
Neutral free contest offers prizes up to $200 for unpublished poems by Michigan high school students. Winners published in The Albion Review, the literary journal of Albion College in Michigan. Send 1-3 poems, maximum 50 lines each.

2/26: New Words Poetry Competition +
Formerly February 27
Neutral free contest for Ohio residents offers prizes of $125, $100 and $75 for 1-3 unpublished poems, maximum 5 pages total. Sponsored by the Akron Art Museum.

2/27: California Federation of Chaparral Poets Youth Contest +
Formerly February 28
Neutral free contest for California students in grades 7-12 offers prizes up to $50 in each of 6 categories for poems 20 lines maximum. Categories are Junior (grades 7-9), Senior (grades 10-12), Light Verse, and three themed contests: "New Worlds", "Youth's View of Humanity", and "I Remember".

2/28: Chistell Writing Contest +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest offers top prizes of $100 for short fiction and poetry, for writers aged 16+ who have never been published in a major publication. Chistell is an independent publisher of popular literature with a focus on African-American women. Send 1-2 poems or one story; online submission only.

3/1: Beverly Hopkins Memorial Poetry Contest for High School Students +
Neutral free contest for high school students living within 100 miles of St. Louis offers prizes of $50 and $35, plus reading at annual poetry concert in May. Send 1-3 poems, any length, that are unpublished and not previously awarded a prize. Entries should be typed, single-spaced, signed with pseudonym only; include a 3"x5" index card with author's real name and pseudonym, address, phone number, email, high school name, and poem titles.

3/1: Brenda L. Smart Grand Prize for Poetry +
Formerly March 9
Neutral free contest offers $500 for poems by North Carolina residents with no published books. Send 2 copies of 1-3 poems. Previous winners, poets with a published book and tenured UNC faculty may not enter.

3/1: Eastern Shore Regional Poetry Contest +
Neutral free contest offers top prize of $100 per age division (children, students, adults, seniors) for poems by residents, students or employees from the following Maryland counties: Caroline, Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's or Talbot. Send 2 copies of 1-2 poems, 20 stanzas or 3 pages maximum per poem, along with entry form from website.

3/1: Fresh Meadows Poets Teen Poetry Contest +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest for teen poets living in Queens, NY offers top prize of $150. Submit one poem, any length, that is suitable for a general audience, along with contact information by email to ghnorthrup@earthlink.net.

3/1: Iris N. Spencer Undergraduate Poetry Award +
Neutral free contest offers prizes of $500 and $250 for formal poetry by undergraduates enrolled in a college/university in the Delaware Valley of Pennsylvania (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia counties). Send one unpublished poem, any length.

3/1: Milton Kessler Poetry Book Award +
Entries must be received by this date
Recommended free contest from Binghamton University offers $1,000 for the best book of poetry published in the previous calendar year by an author over 40, minimum press run 500. Publishers should send 3 copies of published book (no galleys) plus entry form.

3/1: Myong Cha Son Haiku Award +
Neutral free contest offers $300 for haiku by undergraduates enrolled in a college/university in the Delaware Valley of Pennsylvania (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia counties). Send one unpublished poem.

3/5: Jo-Anne Hirshfield Memorial Poetry Awards +
Formerly February 28
Neutral free contest offers prizes of $100, $50 and $25 in each of four age categories: children who live or attend school in Evanston, IL (grades K-5 and 6-8), and Chicago-area high school students and adults. Send 2 copies of 1-5 unpublished poems by mail or email.

3/7: Collision Poetry & Creative Nonfiction Contest +
Entries must be received by this date; formerly March 13
Twice-yearly neutral free contest from Collision, the University of Pittsburgh's creative nonfiction magazine, offers prizes of $150, $100, $75, plus publication, for poetry and creative nonfiction by undergraduate students anywhere in the world. Entries should be 1-4 poems or 1-2 essays, maximum 10 pages total from any author. Prizes are across all genres, not per genre (personal essays and narratives, travel pieces, feature articles, and poems).

3/12: Anthony Abbott Undergraduate Poetry Competition +
Formerly March 18
Neutral free contest offers top prize of $150, other prizes, for the best poem of 40 lines maximum by a part-time or full-time undergraduate at a North Carolina college. One poem per person. Winner and runners-up will be published in the CWC anthology and invited to a public reading in April. No haiku.

3/15: B.J. Rolfzen Creative Writing Contest +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest sponsored by singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota offers top prizes of $100 and publication for poems and short stories, plus a prize of $100 and a staging for one-act plays. Poetry category has two divisions: an open division and a student division for current high school or undergraduate students with no literary publishing credits other than school publications. Enter poetry and fiction by email only, drama by mail only. Send one poem (maximum 1,000 words) or one story (1,000-4,000 words). One act plays must be 30-60 minutes in length. "Entries need not be about Bob Dylan or use his style of writing; but they should strive for creativity, originality and literary theme." Formerly known as the Dylan Days Writing Contest, changed name in 2010.

3/15: Howard Nemerov Creative Writing Awards ++
Recommended free contest for US high school juniors and seniors offers three prizes of $250 in each genre (poetry and fiction). One entry per person per genre. Sponsored by Washington University in St. Louis.

3/15: Lynn DeCaro Poetry Contest +
Neutral free contest offers prizes of $75, $50, $25 for unpublished poems by Connecticut high school students (public, private, home-schooled or alternative) in grades 9-12. Send 2 copies of 1-3 poems, maximum 40 lines each.

3/15: Paterson Prize for Books for Young People ++
Entries must be received by this date
Recommended free contest offers $500 in each of three age categories: books for Pre-K - Grade 3, Grades 4-6, or Grades 7-12. Books must have been published in the previous calendar year. Send 3 copies of book plus entry form. Sponsored by the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College.

3/15: Sacramento Poetry Center High School Poetry Writing Contest +
Formerly April 15
Neutral free contest for unpublished poems by high school students offers $100 and an invitation to read at the Sacramento Poetry Center in the summer. Maximum 3 poems per person. Enter by mail or email.

3/15: Words About Work Contest +
Neutral free contest offers $500 gift card for adults, $100 for children, for poems and essays about how work gives their lives positive meaning. Entries should be a maximum of one single-spaced page, typed in 12-point font. No simultaneous submissions or previously published work. See website for entry form, details on the theme, and past winners. Contest sponsor Fedcap is a national leader in providing comprehensive vocational services and employment for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment.

3/20: New England Poetry Club Student Contests +
Neutral free contest offers prizes of $100 for unpublished poems by authors in three categories: New England college students and Massachusetts middle school and high school students.

3/25: Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku Competition for High School Students +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest offers six prizes of $50 for the best haiku by students in grades 7-12 as of the previous September (no homeschooled students). Send 1-3 haiku, typed in triplicate on 3"x5" cards, with author's name and contact information on only one copy. No simultaneous submissions. Sponsored by the Haiku Society of America.

3/26: Eugene & Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award ++
Formerly April 8
Recommended free contest offers prizes up to $10,000 for published authors of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction books, who were born in Indiana or have lived there for at least five years. Winners must attend award ceremony in October and work with their local library to promote related literary programs. Nomination forms may be submitted by mail or online. Finalists will be asked to send copies of their published books.

3/29: Leonard Milberg '53 Secondary School Poetry Prize ++
Formerly March 30
Recommended free contest sponsored by the Princeton University creative writing program offers prizes up to $500 for unpublished poems by 11th-graders (high school juniors). Submit 1-3 poems, any length. Contest is judged by the Princeton University creative writing faculty, which includes such acclaimed authors as Jeffrey Eugenides and Joyce Carol Oates.

3/30: bpNichol Chapbook Poetry Award ++
Recommended free contest offers C$2,000 for the best English-language poetry chapbook published in Canada in the preceding year. Author or publisher should submit 3 copies of book plus author's curriculum vitae.

3/31: Foley Poetry Contest ++
Recommended free contest from the Jesuit magazine 'America' offers $1,000 and publication for a poem of 30 lines or less. (Past winning poems have touched on morally significant issues, but have not been "religious" poetry in the conventional sense.) No simultaneous submissions.

3/31: Jacklyn Potter Young Poets Competition +++
Highly recommended free contest for high school students in the Washington, DC region offers two winners an honorarium plus reading at Rock Creek Park with an established poet. Send 5-6 poems, published or unpublished. Sponsored by The Word Works, which also runs a prestigious manuscript prize for adults.

3/31: Lampman-Scott Award ++
Recommended free contest for published poetry books by residents of Canada's National Capital region (Ottawa) offers C$1,500. Send 4 copies of a book published during the preceding calendar year by a recognized publisher.

3/31: Mildred Kanterman Memorial Merit Book Awards +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest from the Haiku Society of America offers $500 for the best book of haiku, or primarily haiku, published in the previous calendar year. Books should be at least 24 pages. Also see website for the Annual Merit Book Awards, open to poets of all experience levels. Both prize and fee for the latter contest were eliminated in 2005; winners now receive only publicity in Haiku Society materials. Early entries encouraged.

3/31: Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest for African-American poets offers $500 and publication for a poetry manuscript, 60-90 pages. Authors who have already had books published by Lotus Press are not eligible.

3/31: Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowships +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest from prestigious Poetry magazine offers five fellowships of $15,000 for US authors aged 21-31 as of the deadline. Upload 10 pages of poetry (published work may be included), introductory page, and list of published poems (optional) using their online submission manager. As of 2010, only online entries accepted.

3/31: Sarah Mook Memorial Poetry Prize for Students +
Neutral contest offers prizes up to $100 in four age categories for unpublished poems by students in grades K-12. Submit 1-3 poems, any length. Optional $5 entry fee will be donated to St. Joseph's Indian School in Chamberlain, SD, which serves the Lakota (Sioux) population. This contest is sponsored by David Mook in memory of his daughter, a young writer who died suddenly of an aortic aneurysm when she was in third grade.

3/31: Toronto Book Awards +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest for published books of literary or artistic merit that are evocative of Toronto. C$15,000 will be awarded in all. Each shortlisted author (usually 4-6) receives C$1,000 and the winning author is awarded the remainder. There are no separate categories: novels, short story collections, books of poetry, biographies, histories, social studies, books about sports, children's books, photographic collections, etc. are judged together.


Login to The Best Free Poetry Contests now to view these and all our profiles of free contests. You can browse contests by deadline date, name, recommendation level, and more.

Key to Ratings
Highly Recommended: +++
Recommended: ++
Neutral: +

All deadlines are postmark deadlines unless otherwise specified.


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SPONSORS' MESSAGES


FundsforWriters
"Dang, Hope. You hit me in the gut with your editorial this week. Thank you for your wisdom."
Come see why FundsforWriters readers are loyal, satisfied and enthusiastic. Four newsletters, website resources, ebooks, consults and motivational material to make you fall in love with writing all over again. Chosen by Writer's Digest for 101 Best Websites for Writers for the past nine years. www.fundsforwriters.com




The William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences
ANNUAL WRITERS' WORKSHOP
Begun in 1988, the William Joiner Center's Annual Writers' Workshop (June 14–25) welcomes writers of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and translation for two weeks of classes, panels, discussions, exhibits, readings and good company. Recent and current faculty members include Lady Borton, Martha Collins, Danielle Legros Georges, Aracelis Girmay, Fred Marchant, Demetria Martinez, Nahid Rachlin, Brian Turner, Afaa Michael Weaver, and Bruce Weigl.

Taught by a faculty of Iraq and Vietnam veterans and others whose works address issues of social justice, cultural, political, and community concern, the workshop features visiting writers from around the globe. Past guest faculty have included recipients of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Lannan Award for Lifetime Achievement (given to writers on the cutting edge of political thought in their countries), and the Lannan Fellowship. Past visitors have hailed from Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Northern Ireland, Nigeria, Rwanda, Serbia and Ukraine. In recent years we have begun to introduce new modes of expression through the multimedia Odysseus Project, workshops with Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and the Warrior Writers Project.

Tuition for one week is just $250. Tuition for two weeks is $400. Apply now. For more information, go to www.joinercenter.umb.edu



A Room Of Her Own Foundation: Deadlines for Women Writers

$1,000 Orlando Prizes for Creative Nonfiction, Short Fiction, Sudden Fiction, and Poetry
Online application deadline: February 28—last call!

$1,000 To the Lighthouse Poetry Publication Prize
Postmark deadline: August 31

$50,000 Gift of Freedom
Postmark Deadline: October 11

Finalists for the Gift of Freedom will be selected for each of the three non-winning genres—the winner and finalists will be honored and featured at an AROHO Gift of Freedom event. Women who legally reside in the United States and will be living in the US during the term of the grant are eligible to apply.

A Room Of Her Own Foundation (AROHO) connects, supports, challenges and champions women writers. As the preeminent nonprofit institution working on behalf of creative women today, AROHO has expended more than $630,000 on their behalf through $50,000 Gift of Freedom Awards, Orlando Prizes, To the Lighthouse Poetry Publication Prizes, scholarships, world-class retreats, public readings, Day Conferences, Book Club, and a web-based resource center.

www.aroho.org



Last Call!
Houston Writers Guild: Grand Prize Novel Contest $1,000
Postmark Deadline: March 3 (extended from February 28)
Houston Writers Guild will award $1,000 to the first-place winner in their Spring 2010 contest. Submit the first fifteen pages of your novel. Second prize is $300 and third prize is $200. We welcome a wide range of genres: Mainstream, Literary, Romance, Romantic Suspense, Historical, Saga, Mystery, Thriller, Spy, Action, Adventure, Sci-fi, Fantasy, Memoir, and Non-Fiction. Go to www.houstonwritersguild.org for details.

Winners will be announced at our Spring 2010 Workshop on April 10 featuring Tom Vaughan, screenwriter; Chris Rogers, author of the Dixie Flannigan series (Bantam); Christie Craig, author of 6 romance novels and 3,000 published magazine articles and photographs; Mike Orenduff, author of The Pot Thief novels; Susan Briggs Wright, author of memoirs, plus literary agents: Amy Burkhardt, Kimberly-Cameron Literary Agency; Peter Steinberg, the Peter Steinberg Agency; Sharon Bowers, The Miller Agency; and editor Allison McCabe, formerly of Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins. Request the complete agenda or other information by email: rpaulding@sbcglobal.net.



Last Call!
Tupelo Press: Snowbound Series Chapbook Award
Postmark Deadline: February 28
The 9th Annual Snowbound Series Chapbook Award is an open competition with a prize of $1,000 and 50 copies. Submissions are accepted from anyone writing in the English language (translations are not eligible for this prize). The 2010 final judge will be Patricia Fargnoli. Prior winners include Mark Yakich, Cecilia Woloch, and John Cross. Paper or electronic submissions accepted. Complete guidelines at http://www.tupelopress.org/snow.php

Tupelo Press/Crazyhorse Award for a First or Second Book of Poetry
Postmark Deadline: April 15
The 11th Annual Tupelo Press Award for a First Book of Poetry—now open to those who have previously published one book—is an open competition with a $3,000 prize. Submissions are accepted from anyone writing in the English language (translations are not eligible for this prize). Final judges will be the editors of Tupelo Press and the journal Crazyhorse. Co-sponsored by the College of Charleston. Prior winners include Jennifer Michael Hecht, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Bill Van Every, Kristin Bock, and Jennifer Militello. Paper or electronic submissions accepted. Complete guidelines at http://www.tupelopress.org/first.php

Please enjoy this poem from Flinch of Song, a winner of the Tupelo Press/Crazyhorse First Book Award:

History of Siblings
by Jennifer Militello

Once the home had been broken, we drank
from its stream which again went to shards
in our mouths. We set fire to its ashes

which reassembled into our bodies at once.
They became again the very erasure
in which the streets, the dipping of their

several necks, are clearly heard.
When we ran, we consumed the way back
to be sure we would never return. Lost in

the scatter, we hummed ourselves a song
once sung to us in a room the image
of porcelain. Those voices of secondhand smoke

dragged long in us. All the petals falling from
the same clear pause. And even if it seemed
a dream coming through, it became a reality

leaving. What kept us digging but
the brilliance tangling our woodgrained hair,
opening wind, its wide convertible.

Last Call!
The Lester M. Wolfson Poetry Award
Postmark Deadline: March 1
The Lester M. Wolfson Poetry Award is being created in an effort to bring fresh and original voices to the poetry reading public. The prize will be offered annually to any poet writing in English, including poets who have never published a full length book as well as poets who have published several. New and Selected collections of poems are also welcome. The winning poet will receive $1,000, publication of his or her book and 50 copies of the book. The winner will also be invited to give a reading at Indiana University South Bend as part of the release of the book. Finalists, other than the prize-winning manuscript, will be considered for publication. The final selection will be made by the Series Editor, David Dodd Lee.

Current or former students or employees of Indiana University South Bend, as well as friends of the Series Editor or other Wolfson Press staff, are not eligible for the prize. There is a $25, non-refundable, entry fee, made payable to Wolfson Press. There is no limit on the number of entries an author may submit. Simultaneous submissions are fine, in fact they are encouraged, but please withdraw your manuscript if it is taken for publication elsewhere. Please include a SASE with each entry. Please include a self-addressed postage paid postcard if you desire confirmation of manuscript receipt. No manuscripts will be returned. Entries sent by e-mail or fax are not permitted; they will be disqualified. On your cover sheet include name, address, phone number, and e-mail. The manuscript should be paginated and include a table of contents and acknowledgments page.

Mail manuscripts to:

Lester M. Wolfson Poetry Award
Indiana University South Bend
Department of English
1700 Mishawaka Avenue
P. O. Box 7111
South Bend, IN 46634-7111

Manuscripts submitted for the Lester M. Wolfson Poetry Award should exhibit an awareness of the contemporary "voice" in American poetry, an awareness of our moment in time as poets. We are excited to receive poetry that is experimental as well as work of a more formalist bent, as long as it reflects a complexity and sophistication of thought and language. Urgency, yes; melodrama, not so much. Winners will be announced via this website, as well as through the mail. We will also announce the winner in major magazines (Poets & Writers) and blogs. The winning book, and any others chosen from the pool of entries, will be published in 2011. Questions? Please email Davdlee@iusb.edu.



Closing Next Month
Bellingham Review Literary Awards
Postmark Deadline: March 15
Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Bellingham Review are given annually for works of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The 49th Parallel Poetry Award is given for a poem or group of poems of any style or length; Allison Joseph will judge. The Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction is given for a short story; Jess Walter will judge. The Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction is given for an essay; Rebecca McClanahan will judge.

Submit up to three poems or a story or essay of up to 9,000 words with an $18 entry fee ($10 for each additional entry), which includes a subscription to Bellingham Review. Send a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) or visit our website for complete guidelines. Chas Hoppe, Managing Editor. www.wwu.edu/bhreview

Mail your submission and fee to:

Bellingham Review
Literary Awards
Mail Stop 9053
Western Washington University
Bellingham, WA 98225-9053

Please enjoy "The Clear Bones", winner of the 49th Parallel Poetry Award in 2007:

The Clear Bones
by Luisa A. Igloria

Some say bone was the first kind of paper,
difficult to inscribe because it involved fractures
or accidents. Vellum and parchment came later,
then linen, canvas, reams of book paper. Lifted whole

from the dark ocean bed, a ribcage is an archive.
All the gaps between, the missing years that must be
filled in by hand: at an archaeologist's pit or artist's
easel; under laboratory lights or the glow cast by

a tasseled lamp over a séance table. Divination
is the art of reading the future, which is the blue
horizon dissolving like tissue in the distance,
or the level bars that make up a rune in the I Ching.

Early soothsayers threw dice made of astragali—
heel bones of hooved animals like antelope or sheep,
filed down and squared to fit the palm of the hand.
Think of the almond rattling, a little bone sheathed...

Click for the rest of the poem.

The Grub Street Book Prize
Postmark Deadlines: March 15 for Poetry (

Excerpt from the poem "In the Name of the Tyrant",
published by Copper Canyon Press in Wild Tongue
by Rebecca Seiferle

What did we suffer for? why did we flee
our houses as if we had been hostages at our own
tables? Even free, we were not free, we kept
breaking down in thrift stores, our eyes
tearing in bins of glasses taken from the faces
of the dead; disoriented and dizzy as crows
swarming the corpses of our own hearts,
in the aisles of the department stores
filled with the glitter of plenty, we kept
spilling coffee on ourselves...

• $10 for up to two (2) poems
• $10 for one (1) short story

Fish One-Page Prize
Entries must be received by March 20
Flash Fiction of up to 300 words. The ten best stories will be published in the 2010 Fish Anthology.
Contest is open to writers of any nationality writing in English.
Entries must not have been published before.
Judges: John Hegley and Simon Munnery.
Entry online or by post.
First Prize 1,000 Euro. Each of the ten successful authors will receive five copies of the Anthology.
Results announced on April 30.
Entry Fee 12 Euro.

Fish Poetry Prize
Entries must be received by March 30
For poems up to 200 words. The best ten will be published in the 2010 Fish Anthology in July.
Contest is open to poets of any nationality writing in English.
Entries must not have been published before.
Judge: Matthew Sweeney.
Entry online or by post.
First Prize 1,000 Euro. Each of the ten successful poets will receive five copies of the Anthology.
Results announced on April 30.
Entry Fee 12 Euro.

Carpe Verbum Short Fiction Postmark Deadline: March 30—closing next month
Carpe Verbum Poetry Postmark Deadline: March 30—closing next month

Welcome to Carpe Articulum Literary Review! You can submit online! We look forward to reviewing your work and wish you luck in the contests. We are an international review with over 35,000 readers. We give away $10,000 every year to outstanding writers and artists and hope you will decide to become a member of our literary circle of friends. Enter our fiction, non-fiction, poetry, novella and photography contests at any time of year. We also accept submissions outside our contests via email.

The magazine is 150-200 pages of full-colour delight, translated into five languages. We feature short fiction, poetry, informative articles, photography, non-fiction and incredible interviews with hot up-and-coming writers as well as iconic ones such as Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (author of Mistress of Spices, Sister of My Heart), George Lucas (Star Wars, Indiana Jones), Ray Harryhausen (father of motion picture special effects), Ray Bradbury (author of Fahrenheit 451), Jodi Picoult (author of Change of Heart, Handle With Care, Nineteen Minutes, and My Sister's Keeper which was made into a major motion picture with Cameron Diaz) and Nicholas Sparks (author of Message in a Bottle, also made into a motion picture with Kevin Costner & Robin Wright Penn, as well as The Notebook, The Last Song, etc.) And that is just this October issue!

Our writing staff includes two ex-New York Times writers (both of whom are draped in copious prestigious writing awards) as well as movie and television people for national networks. We are truly fortunate to have a full-time staff of such quality people. Our readers make up the rest of the content via their submissions. You do not have to enter a contest to be published with us. Moreover, we are the original cross-genre, international review in the world. Our readership list reads like a virtual Who's Who list and that is specifically cultivated to make certain that the winners of the award series get the maximum exposure to important agents and writers who have the power to influence writing careers.

Please enjoy this gratis electronic version of our latest issue, a preview of what you can look forward to should you decide to become one of our literary family members. We offer a great deal to our readers, superior to other reviews in scope, resources and content. Should you decide to become one of our cherished subscribers, you will receive one issue free of charge and will also find yourself immersed in short fiction, poetry, incredible interviews with great and famous writers, and articles which are insightful, timely, and informative.

Cheers!

Hadassah R. L. Broscova
Editor-in-Chief
Carpe Articulum Literary Review
www.caliteraryreview.com
503.957.8025 Office

Snake Nation Press
Attn: Poetry Contest
2920 North Oak Street
Valdosta, GA 31602

I'd spent the previous year working with underprivileged children in South Georgia on a stretch of paved and unpaved highway called Snake Nation Road. I loved the name, the hissing sound, and had done a bit of research trying to find out its origins. Valdosta's local historian said the appellation had several sources. He said that the area had once been an Indian encampment. Since my son was always finding arrowheads near our home, and I'd heard of others being plowed up in fields, that seemed a good explanation. Another take on the name was that the area had, at one time, contained several snake-handling churches. Still another reason was the swampy ground, so full of snakes that escaped prisoners from Troupeville (later to become Valdosta) were not pursued. "The moccasins will take care of 'um," was the Warden's verdict. And one last interpretation—the one I loved best—was that a poor, rowdy section of Valdosta had once been called Snake Nation.

According to legend, after a particularly boisterous night, the sheriff raided a local club and took everyone back to the hoosegow. As with many buildings in those days, the jail was just a wooden frame set on top of a dirt floor. When the sheriff departed, the Snake Nation bunch lifted the entire structure off its foundations and walked away. "I'll call it Snake Nation Review," I said, explaining my reasons for wanting the name. "Aren't writers the lowest of all artists, especially unpublished writers, thousands of hours on work that no one ever sees, never gets paid for, the underbelly of the artistic world..."

Click for more.

....Professor Parker Bullington paces in front of the room fondling his pipe while he gives his rote lectures. You can't blame him for playing with something while he's in lecture mode. The guy's been sharing his insights for almost forty years. These days you take his class for his rep and you pay the price. We're his captives and as long as you turn in a paper that confirms you'd never be able to write in old English better than he...him...Bullington...you're going to pass with flying colors. But he was so, I don't know. He was sure that no one else was right in the world. But that didn't bug me. I'm just mentioning it because it was a trait I noticed. I liked the guy. But you had to sit in front to really hear him. This was a big room for the guy to be lecturing in without a microphone. I know the kids in back didn't hear a word. And if they did, they couldn't understand it.

No, I wasn't bugged. It was nothing like that. It was just for, I don't know. I felt like doing it.

Sometimes you just have to try things. We're students of life at a university known for testing limits. Right? All I did was test a limit. Hell, all the great thinkers paid the price at one time or another for going off the beaten path. I think the whole class benefited from it. And it's not like I was out in the world trying out the social taboos. I kept it in the classroom.

Click for the full story.

• Contest Guidelines: Unpublished poems in English must be received through our online Submissions Manager by April 1.
• First prize: $500 and publication in TIFERET.
• Three Honorable Mention Prizes will receive publication on website.
• $5 fee for each poem entered. Limit 6.
• To enter, please go to www.tiferetsubmissions.com. Specify genre "Contest-Poetry" and pay your appropriate entry fee using PayPal. PayPal accepts all major credit cards even if you don't have a Paypal account.

Ocean View
by Jude Rittenhouse

...Earth brings such surprises when we let her. When we cease our false certainty. When we release each belief, every known. That night, as I floated in exhaustion's foamy wake wondering what is true, earth answered me with evidences that proclaimed the falseness of absence. At what temperature would my father's laughter once again become audible? What trick of light might erase my mother's dementia? Is Alzheimer's disease like that gibbous moon casting a temporary false image? When dawn's raspberry tongue licks the sleep from my eyes, will I once again see the truth of my mother? Daylight shows me that maple's trilogy. When I listen, I hear all the old voices singing.

My mother is still teaching me. She seems happiest when she lets go of trying to know. At those times, her anxieties vanish. She relaxes into whatever the moment presents to her, no longer agitated about what may or may not be coming, about what she should have done or should be doing. Her best moments seem to come when those around her exude happiness, love, or just a simple calmness...

Click for the complete essay.

Artists Embassy International Poetry Contest - Three Grand Prize Winning Poems to be Danced and Filmed
Postmark Deadline: May 15

• 3 Grand Prizes will receive $100 each plus their poems will be danced and filmed. Each Grand Prize winner will be invited onstage for photo ops with the dancers and a bow in the limelight.
• 6 First Prizes will receive $50 each
• 12 Second Prizes will receive $25 each
• 30 Third Prizes will receive $10 each

All prize winners will receive a prize certificate suitable for framing and a ticket to the Dancing Poetry Festival 2010, and be invited to read their prizewinning poem at the Festival to be held this fall in San Francisco. The top three poems chosen as Grand Prizes will be choreographed, costumed and recorded live in an on-stage performance at the Festival. See pictures from our 2009 Festival.

Last year's Grand Prize winners included Gretchen R. Fletcher, Nancy Rakoczy and Jeanne Wagner. Recent topics of winning poems have touched on the travels of Matisse, a Picasso painting, falling leaves, love, Iraq, China, history, dance, current events, reverie, socially significant situations and even some humor sprinkled here and there. Please don't feel constrained to write a poem about dancing.

The entry fee is $5 per poem or $10 for 3 poems. Each poem may be up to 40 lines long. Send two copies of each poem. One copy should be anonymous (just title and poem), the other should have your name, address, phone, email address and where you heard about this contest (e.g. Winning Writers Newsletter). There is no limit on the number of entries.

When the judges evaluate entries, they look for innovative perspectives on ordinary or unusual subjects as well as excellence of craft. Your entry should be suitable for a general audience since our following is comprised of people of all ages and ethnicities. English translations must be included with non-English poems.

Our judges consist of poets, dancers, musicians and visual artists of various media, all members of Artists Embassy International. Judging is done with the anonymous copies of the poems. Artists Embassy International is a non-profit, volunteer, arts and education organization whose goal is to further intercultural understanding through the arts.

Three poets, the Grand Prize winners, will be rewarded with seeing their poems danced by Natica Angilly's Poetic Dance Theater Company, a well-known dance troupe that has performed around the world and throughout America. This company is dedicated exclusively to creating new avenues by combining poetry, dance and music together for presentation and the expansion of poetry with dance in the life of our culture.

To enter the contest, please visit our website at www.dancingpoetry.com or submit to AEI Contest Chair W, Judy Cheung, 704 Brigham Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95404. Questions? Please email Ms. Cheung at jhcheung@comcast.net.



The Idaho Prize for Poetry 2010
Postmark Deadline: May 15
Lost Horse Press is now accepting submissions for The Idaho Prize for Poetry 2010, a national competition offering $1,000 plus publication by Lost Horse Press for a book-length poetry manuscript.

All US poets are eligible. The winner and finalists will be announced on August 15. The final judge for this seventh annual poetry book contest sponsored by Lost Horse Press will be announced at a later date. A reading fee of $25—check or money order only, please—and a SASE (for notification of winners only; manuscripts will be recycled) must be included with the manuscript.

For guidelines or additional information about the Idaho Prize for poetry, please contact Lost Horse Press at 208-255-4410, email losthorsepress@mindspring.com or view online at www.losthorsepress.org (click Submission Guidelines on the left).

Congratulations to our 2009 winner Stephen Gibson of Florida. His entry, Frescoes, was chosen by judge Carolyne Wright. Mr. Gibson will receive $1,000 plus publication by Lost Horse Press. Ms. Wright comments,

"In Frescoes, Stephen Gibson assumes the charge of the engaged tourist, paying his entry fee to the chapels and basilicas of Renaissance Florence and Padua and Rome in order to enter in to much more subversive premises: to see through the pigmented plaster and marble facades to the real-life consequences of original sin and human depravity depicted in these treasures of High Art. Gibson is a wised-up pilgrim in sanctuaries whose faith he cannot share.

"Harsh and highly accomplished, these poems redeem the people from the paint, plaster and piety. They pull victims and perpetrators alike out of the history and myth of the treasures of Great Arts into the arena of our ongoing moral dilemmas, our struggles for survival as well as for the preservation of compassion and decency in a perennially fallen human world."

14th Annual Robert Frost Foundation Annual Poetry Award
Postmark/Email Submission Deadline: September 15 (don't enter before March 1)
The Robert Frost Foundation welcomes poems in the spirit of Robert Frost for its 14th Annual Award. The winner will receive $1,000 and an invitation to present the winning poem this fall at the Frost Festival located at the Lawrence Public Library in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the library in which Frost first explored the traditions of English and Irish poetry.

Please submit two copies of each poem, one copy with contact information (name, address, phone number, email address) and one copy free of all identifying information. Reading fees are $10 per poem (send fees via regular mail, please). Make your check payable to The Robert Frost Foundation. Mail your entry to: The Robert Frost Foundation, Attn: Poetry Award, Lawrence Public Library - 3rd Floor, 51 Lawrence Street, Lawrence, MA 01841. Include a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) or an email address if you'd like to receive the contest results. Email submissions are accepted at frostfoundation@comcast.net if you send your entry fee by regular mail.

You may submit up to three poems of no more than three pages each. Both published and unpublished works are accepted. See the complete contest guidelines at www.frostfoundation.org.

Judge Jarita Davis chose "Processional" by Joan Larkin as a finalist in last year's contest. Please enjoy this video reading by Ms. Larkin:

Processional
by Joan Larkin

In Tamilnadu
where it's still morning,
where the mixed scent of
burning rubber, incense
and excrement hasn't yet
heated to a thing you sweat
through your feet and tongue,
where day is beginning to burn
through the neem leaves,
a long string of men
snakes along a dirt route, chanting
and in their center like a gold bead
lofted on their shoulders
a man sits in a painted box
its canopy dyed bright yellow
and he, too, is clothed yellow
and his face upturned to the sun
is smeared with turmeric:
a man the color of saffron grain.
He's leaning back in his high seat
and you see from your safe distance
his stiff posture and open mouth.
You stare as if you've never seen the dead:
Francis in his smeared bedding,
your father a waxwork
freakish in mortuary rouge,
all the young men in varnished coffins.
Each death its own strangeness,
a gold face tilted to the light.
Yet common to all. You're
in this moving line. And he is,
the one you carry, the one you praise
and want to spare.
The line jolts forward
Jaya, jaya, Shiva Shambho
toward the wood and fire,
and you breathe the scent
of everything alive.

TRACY'S CRITIQUE CORNER

This month, Critique Corner is pleased to present "You Are" by Prasenjit Maiti, and "The Second Million Times" by Larry Pontius.

If you would like a chance to be critiqued, please email your poem to critique@winningwriters.com. Send the poem in the body of your email message (no attachments) and put "poetry critique" in the subject line. One submission per poet per month. Thanks!


You Are
by Prasenjit Maiti

there and you are not
like the dizzy sorrows that are mine
lining my shirt, frosting my drink
as I walk across downtown Calcutta
my beloved misery
where your smiles light up the stairs
and my cigarettes endless
like your days and ways
that are my sorrows, my ins and outs
because you are there and you are not


Copyright 2010 by Prasenjit Maiti


The Second Million Times
by Larry Pontius

How do you say I love you
The second million times
After you've used up all the special looks
Unexpected flowers and quotes from favorite books
I can't think of any more places to walk alone together
That we haven't walked along before
And the only way I can surprise you with a visit on the phone
Is to call someday when I know you're not at home
There isn't another place on your soft skin
That I can give a loving touch
We covered all of that long ago
When our lips learned every loving kiss
And our passions every loving way to go
Is it possible that love only has a million signs
I guess that's what I'm trying to say
That, and how'd you like to start over
Like we just met yesterday


Copyright 2010 by Larry Pontius


Critique by Tracy Koretsky

Love poems—they're been with us at least 4,000 years. Type the single word "poem" into Google and the first item you are offered is a link to love poems. No single subject rushes the poet more breathlessly to his desk, drunk with overpowering emotion, a-tingle with vivid imagery. But given both the love poem's long history and arguable surfeit, however is our poet to find anything new enough, fresh enough, not only to be worthy of his exquisite condition, but of its precious object? And, more importantly to us, as readers and contesters, how is it possible to write a love poem that a third party might be interested to read? The answer, perhaps, has something to do with strategy, because, let's face it, the love poem is a poem on a mission. Its objective: seduction.

This month, in celebration of Valentine's Day, I'll take an appreciative look at two very successful love poems that could not possibly be more different, from authors writing from locales that—beside their heat—could not be more different either, with a particular focus on their strategy. The first, "You Are", is a brief, intense lyric by Dr. Prasenjit Maiti from Calcutta, India, who calls himself "a political scientist by occupation and a writer by compulsion". "The Second Million Times", a superbly crafted light-rhyme, was sent in by Larry Pontius of Florida, who has had a long and distinguished career in advertising....

Click to continue reading this critique

These poems, our critique and contest suggestions for poems in these styles appear in full at:
http://www.winningwriters.com/resources/critiques/2010/urc_1002maiti.php

See all of our poetry critiques.