Contests and Calls for Submission

This is a member created list for poetry competitions and calls for submission in North Carolina.

• Fields of Earth Poetry Competition
  The Writers’ Ink Guild of Fayetteville is pleased to announce the start of the 2012 Fields of Earth poetry competition. This will be the 30th Anniversary of this competition and as such we have decided to do something special this year. In coordination with Old Mountain Press, The Writers’ Ink Guild will be publishing a Fields of Earth 30th Anniversary Poetry Anthology. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and two honorable mentions from each category will be published in this anthology. Winners will receive one free copy that the awards ceremony. The period for submissions is 15 Jan to 16 March 2012. There will be a $5 entry fee per poem for the adult categories. Students submissions K-12 are free . For more information visit our web site at http://www.fayettevillewritersinkguild.webs.com or email writersinkguild@aol.com or call (910) 574-5019.
• Sonia Sanchez and Amiri Baraka Prize in Poetry
  sponsored by the NC A&T State University Creative Writing Program
  Deadline date: April 2 (postmark date).
  On the anniversary of the A&T Four Greensboro Sit-in Movement and the onset of Black History Month, we celebrate the courageous legacy of African-American literary achievement by honoring the legacies of two literary giants. Their literary works and personal life energies have
  been spent in service to the upliftment of black people worldwide and to the struggle for freedom, justice and equality for all oppressed peoples. Their scholarship activism and poetry have reminded the world about the sacredness of human dignity and the need to preserve it. We are looking for poetry that seeks to honor the spirit of this tradition.

  Poetry entries: (No more than 50 lines per poem, up to 3 poems per submission, any style.) Competition will be judged by a committee of poets and writers (should the entries not be up to our standards, we reserve the right to withhold the prize in a given year). The winner receives $250 and will be listed on the NC A&T web site. Applicants must write in English.

  Please include the following per entry:

  • 
    Five typed and stapled copies of unpublished manuscript (author’s name must not appear on manuscript).
  • 
    One cover sheet with name, address, telephone, email, line count and titles of poems.
  • 
    $15 reading fee in check or money order, per submission, made payable to NCAT/CWP-Poetry Prize.
  • 
    Writers can submit more than one entry. Each entry must be accompanied by a separate entry fee.
  • 
    Winners to be announced May 4, 2012.

  
  

  • The competition is open to writers without regard to geographical region or previous publication background.
  • SASE for acknowledgement of receipt of manuscript (optional).

  
  List of winners and honorable mentions to be published on web site.
  Please mail your submission to:
  Creative Writing Program-Poetry Prize, A427 GCB, (Atten: Dr. Ahmad) NC A&T State University, 1601 E. Market St., Greensboro, NC 27411.
  For more information: Dr. Anjail Rashida Ahmad, Director of the Creative Writing Program, NC A&T State University, 1601 E. Market St., Greensboro, NC 27411, Tel: 336.334.7771, ext. 2370, E-mail: arahmad@ncat.edu

• Jacar Press Seeks Manuscripts for both full length collections and chapbooks.
  For complete guidelines www.jacarpress.com
  • Full Length Poetry Book Contest
    Full length manuscripts must be 45 – 80 pages of poems,not including table of contents, acknowledgments page, biography, etc.

    Final Judge is an internationally honored poet, included in the Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry edited by Rita Dove. The name will be released after the competition has closed.

  • Poetry Chapbook Competition
    Chapbook manuscript must be between 25-35 pages long, including table of contents, an acknowledgment page, and a page for your biography.

    Final judge will be a nationally recognized poet with three full-length book published by a major university press, and magazine credits in Southern Review, Ploughshares, McSweeney’s, Chelsea, Tar River Poetry, Virginia Quarterly Review, and dozens of other top literary magazines.

  Finalists for both contests may also be published. The competition does not open until April 1, but NCPS members are allowed to submit beginning March 15.

• The Raleigh Review is helping to put poetry up on city buses in Raleigh. See more about the program at http://www.raleighreview.org/NC_Poetry_on_the_Bus.html and how to submit poems for the program.
• Lots of haiku competitions are out there; a list of contests and deadlines can be found at http://thehaikufoundation.org/calendar/calendar_contests.htm. Hone your haiku writing in preparation for next year’s NCPS Griffin-Farlow Haiku Competition!

If you know of any contests that you feel should be added, please use the contact form above (by following the “contact” link in the menu) or simply email the webmaster (cari@inawildflower.com). Thanks for making the NCPS website even more full of resources for poets in North Carolina!