Guidelines: Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize

The RCAH Center for Poetry at Michigan State University, in cooperation with the MSU Press, announces reading dates annually for the Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize. The winner will receive $1,000 and publication within two years of selection under the Wheelbarrow Books imprint.

 

The submission period is from mid-August through October 1.

The final judge and theme for the 2024 Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize will be announced in June 2023.

Submissions only accepted via Submittable.

 

• Guidelines for Submission

  • Manuscripts are eligible for the Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize regardless of author’s publication history.
  • Current faculty, staff, and students of Michigan State University are not eligible to submit their work.
  • Manuscripts should address the theme of the current call for submissions.*
  • Manuscripts are read “blind.” Please remove/redact any mention of your name anywhere in your manuscript.
  • Multiple submissions are welcome and simultaneous submissions are acceptable (please inform us if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere).
  • The Center for Poetry in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities at MSU reserves the right to consider all entrants for publication; a list of winners and finalists will be posted on the Center for Poetry website (poetry.rcah.msu.edu) in February after the winning author is notified.
  • Publication is contingent upon the poet’s agreeing to the terms of the publishing agreement.
  • Manuscripts must be in English and a minimum 64 pages.
  • Translations are not eligible.
  • Manuscripts must be typed in a 12-point font.
  • Manuscripts must be submitted as a PDF file.
  • Submitted poems may have appeared previously in journals, anthologies, or chapbooks, but the collection as a whole must be previously unpublished.
  • Manuscripts will be accepted between mid-August and October 1.
  • Submissions only accepted via Submittable.
  • Include the nonrefundable reading fee of $15 with each submission. Submissions received without this fee will not be accepted or considered.

 

*2024 Theme to be announced in June 2023.

 

Click here to submit via Submittable