Deadline: January 14, 2023
Entry fee: $28
About the competition
The Colorado Prize for Poetry is an international poetry book manuscript contest established in 1995. Each year’s prizewinner receives a $2,500 honorarium and publication of his or her book by the Center for Literary Publishing.
The Colorado Prize for Poetry adheres to the following Contest Code of Ethics, as adopted by the Council of Literary Presses and Magazines, of which the Center for Literary Publishing is a longtime member: “CLMP’s community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to 1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; 2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines — defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and 3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.”
Competition guidelines
- Manuscripts will be accepted between October 1, 2022, and the postmark deadline of January 14, 2023 (note that we observe a five-day grace period for both paper and online submissions).
- The winner will be announced by May 2023.
- The winning book-length collection of poems will be published by the Center for Literary Publishing and distributed by the University Press of Colorado in the fall of 2022. The author receives a $2,500 honorarium.
- There is a $28 online entry fee, which includes a one-year subscription to Colorado Review (the extra $3 goes to the good people at Submittable). We have a limited number of fee waivers available for writers experiencing financial hardship. Email [email protected] directly to request one of these waivers.
- Poets with US addresses may opt for either a print or digital subscription. Poets living outside the US will receive digital subscriptions (as long as a valid e-mail address is provided). Please select the appropriate submission portal.
- The final judge is Felicia Zamora.
- Friends and students (current & former) of the final judge are not eligible to compete, nor are Colorado State University employees, students, and alumni.
- Entrants must be at least 18 years old.
- Manuscripts must be at least 48 pages but no more than 100 pages.
- Manuscripts may consist of poems that have been published, but the manuscript as a whole must be unpublished (this includes self-publishing).
- In your cover letter, please tell us the manuscript title, your name, address, e-mail address, and phone number. You may supply a bio note here, if you wish, but it is not required. Your name should NOT appear anywhere else in the manuscript or in the name of the file name.
- Please do not include acknowledgments/publication credits of individual poems.
- Manuscripts may be double- or single-spaced.
- You may enter more than one manuscript. Each manuscript requires the $28 entry fee. If you’d like the additional subscriptions sent to someone other than yourself , include that information in your cover letter. Otherwise, your subscription will be extended by one year for each additional entry.
- The theme and style are both open.
- Translations are not eligible for the Colorado Prize for Poetry.
- Authors do NOT need to be residents of Colorado or the United States. If you are, however, a foreign national working in the United States, please check the conditions of your visa status with regard to receiving payment from entities other than your sponsor. Colorado State University cannot issue honoraria to foreign nationals with B1/WB, B2/WT, H-1B, or F-1 visas. A J-1 visa holder with a sponsor other than CSU must have written authorization from the Responsible Officer (RO) at their sponsoring institution prior to the activity.
- Poets who submit online will receive contest results via e-mail by May 2022.
- Read the whole guideline and submit here.
