Looking for online publishers, poetry contests or magazines for submissions is quite a monotonous and tiresome process in itself, let alone the chances of finding relevant info. But not anymore!
Here you’ll find monthly updated contests and submission portals that’ll help you grow as beginners and support your writing career at the same time. Every contest is provided with all the information you need to know before submitting to it. Poets from all nationalities can take part in the poetry contests without worrying about submission fee. So, go writers!
Note: Some sites might be area restricted , VPN is recommended.
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Poetry Contests:
1. The Letter Review Poetry Prize
Deadline: Tue, Oct 1, 2024 9:30 AM
Submission Requirements: Entry Up to 70 lines per poem. Open to anyone in the world: No style or subject restrictions.
Prize: $1000 USD Prize pool for 2-4 Winners. Winners are published by The Letter Review. 10-20 Shortlisted. All entries are considered for publication, and submission to anthologies such as The Pushcart Prize. Judges’ feedback available.
2. The Letter Review Prize for Unpublished Poetry Books
Deadline: Tue, Oct 1, 2024 9:30 AM
Submission Requirements: Open to anyone in the world: No style or subject restrictions. Submit the first 15 pages of your poetry chapbook. Poems of all varieties are welcome. Sonnets, comedy, blank verse, epic, rhyming, childrens, free verse.
Prize: $1000 USD Prize pool for 2-4 Winners. Optional: Winners are offered the chance to publish an extract at The Letter Review. 10-20 Shortlisted. Judges’ feedback available.
3. Southern Poetry Review
Deadline: open.
Submission requirements: welcomes previously unpublished poetry submissions from all nationalities. submissions are limited to five poems (1 file), and should not exceed ten pages.
Prize: Publication
4. Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge
Deadline: July 31st, 2024 (New challenge every month)
Submission requirements: The poem should be specifically based on the picture of the month. Rattle does not accept work that has been predominantly generated by artificial intelligence. All submissions are automatically considered for the annual Neil Postman Award for Metaphor, a $2,000 prize judged by the editors.
Theme: Art Inspiring Poetry: FAIZAN ADIL
Prize: two winners—one chosen by the artist and the other by Rattle’s editor—will receive online publication and $100 each.
OTHER FREE RATTLE CONTESTS:
5. ZYZZYVA Submissions
Deadline: open
Submission requirements: no more than five poems at a time are accepted. There is no maximum page count for submissions. Simultaneous submissions are accepted.
Do not accept online submissions and submissions have to be made to:
ZYZZYVA
57 Post Street, Suite 902
San Francisco, CA 94104
Prize:
- Publication
- Prize
6. Belle Point Press
Deadline: Open since 15 June 2024
Submission requirement : Simultaneous submissions are allowed. Seeking full-length manuscripts with at least fifty pages but are willing to consider shorter manuscripts. Currently focused on US-based writers.
Prize: Authors will be offered a standard royalty contract that includes a small cash advance and author copies + a discount on additional copies; this varies depending on the type of project.
7. 2024 “I Matter” Contest
Deadline: July 23, 2024
Submission requirement: Each entry must be original poetry solely created by students. The topic of the contest is :Black Lives Matter.The contest is open to students in grades K to 12.The contest is open to residents of the United States, as well as to international students.
Prize: $500
8. Carte Blanche Contest 2024
Deadline: June 15, 2024
Submission requirements: encourage and welcome submissions by individuals who identify as disabled, and those who live with mental health challenges or neuro divergence. Accept simultaneous submissions.
Theme: “Play.”
Prize: honorarium of $75 for each published piece.
9. PEN Heaney Prize
Deadline: 23:59 on Monday 3 June 2024.
Submission requirements: Open to single collections only, including collections in pamphlet form. Open to collections published in the UK or Ireland, including the British
Isles, between 1 January and 31 December 2023.
Prize : £5,000.
10. Mslexia Poetry Contests
Prize: £30, and all our contributors receive a complimentary copy of the magazine.
Deadline: June 10, 2024 & 8 July 2024
Submission requirements: Open to simultaneous submissions. Entries in English only. Encourages women to submit their poetry. Poems up to 40 lines are accepted. Send up to four poems.
Theme:
1. Red
2. Poet Laureate: 14 lined p
11. Poetry London Submission
Deadline: open
Submission requirements: They do not print previously published work. Both electronic and postal submissions are welcome. Work should be original work of the
Prize: £30 per poem
12. The 2024 Poetry London Prize
Limited number of free entries for writers from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.
Deadline: June 30, 2024.
Submission requirements: Open to all nationalities. Simultaneous submissions are accepted. The maximum length is 80 lines.
Prize :
First Prize £5,000
Second Prize £2,000
Third Prize £1,000.
13. GRAIN MAGAZINE
Deadline: open from September 15th, 2023 to June 15th, 2024
Submission requirements: They accept typed, unpublished material only.
Individual poems, sequences, or suites up to a maximum of six pages are allowed.
Payment: $50 per page to a maximum of $250, plus two copies of the issue in which their work appears.
14. The Malahat Review
Deadline: Submissions by international writers are accepted during the following six months: January and February, May through July, and November.
Submission requirements: They do not publish any kinds of already published work whether offline or online. Simultaneous submission accepted. They accept 3 to 5 poems (up to 10 pages max).
Payment: CAD$70 per published page plus a one-year print subscription and two copies of the issue in which your work appears.
15. DUST Poetry Magazine
Deadline: 16th June 2024
Submission requirements: No specific theme. Up to three poems are accepted. Poems should be unpublished elsewhere.
Prize: publication
16. Five South Poetry Submission
Offers FREE submission windows multiple times per year for financially struggling poets.
Deadline: Open
Submission requirements: No limit, up to 5 pages. Accept all genres (including humor). All submissions must be in English and previously unpublished. Simultaneous submissions are accepted.
Payment: Publication+ Payment
17. The Split Lip Magazine
Deadline: open on in selected months i.e. January, March, May, August, September, November.
Submission requirements: They are looking for ‘First-time electronic publication rights’ meaning fresh work that’s not published anywhere. They accept simultaneous submissions with one submission per writer at a time.
Payment: $75 per author for poems along with payment for print is $ 5 per page, minimum of $20, plus 2contributor copies.
18. Nine Arches Press And Under The Radar Magazine
Deadline: 7th June 2022
Submission requirements: only submit previously unpublished work.
• Send up to six poems.
• We accept submissions from anywhere in the world. Do not make multiple submissions.
Payment: publication
19. Harpur Palate
Deadline: runs September 15-November 15 and February 15-April 15.
Submission requirements: They accept 1-5 poems per reading period( 10 pages) for the contest. Poems with a strong lyric voice and sense of urgency are preferred. Simultaneous submissions are accepted.
Payment: NIL
20.The Spencer Poetry Villanelle Award
Deadline: February 16, 2024
Submission requirements: Annual competition is open to Undergraduate student poets who are enrolled in a United States College or University. Limit of Three poems per Category. Unpublished, original poems composed in the traditional modes of meter, rhyme and received forms are accepted.
Prize: $1,000
21. Waxwing Literary Journal
Deadline: August 1 through April 30
Submission requirements: one to five poems are accepted in a single document in this poetry contest. Simultaneous submissions are allowed.
Payment: Not mentioned
22. Myong Cha Son Haiku Award
Deadline: 16 February, 2024
Submission requirements: Annual competition is open to Undergraduate student poets who are enrolled in a United States College or University. Limit of Three poems per Category. Unpublished, original haiku composed in the traditional modes of meter, rhyme and received forms are accepted.
Payment: $1,000 and $500
23. Rhina P. Espaillat Award
Deadline: 16 February 2024
Submission requirements: Annual competition is open to Undergraduate student poets who are enrolled in a United States College or University. Limit of Three poems per Category. Unpublished, original poems composed in the traditional modes of meter, rhyme and received forms are accepted. The poems should be written in Spanish and translations of English poems to Spanish.
Prize: $1000
24. James Laughlin Award
Deadline: May 15, 2023 (EXPIRED)
Submission requirements: Entries must be at least 48 pages from poets that have U. S citizenship or similar.
Payments: $5,000, an all-expenses-paid weeklong residency at The Betsy Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, and distribution of winning the book to approximately one thousand Academy of American Poets members.
25. Briefly Write Poetry Prize
Deadline: 30 June 2023 @ 23:59 BST (EXPIRED)
Submission requirements: One entry per person. Poem must be 10 lines or fewer. Simultaneous submissions are NOT allowed.
Prize:
- £70, which will be split as follows: 1st – £40 / 2nd – £20 / 3rd – £10.
- Prize and commended poems will be published online. Each winning author will have the chance to be featured on the website.
26. Frontier Poetry Magazine
Deadline: always open
Guidelines: Submissions are open to new and emerging poets only. All submissions must be no more than ten pages and no more than five poems. Multiple submissions are NOT allowed.
Payment: $50 per poem.
If you are interested in more poetry contests, you can go through our poetry contests list with entry fees.
37 thoughts on “20 Free Poetry Contests to enter in 2024”
Great blog!
Thanks Paul
Great to be of help!
I want to know more about poetry contests
Hey!
Sure. You can contact us at contact@poetrymama.com for all your queries.
How I join this contest
Hey Suhana
Every contest is provided with a link where you can check all the requirements and submit to that specific one!
This is most helpful. Thanks so much!
Hey Hassan Usman
Great to hear that! It’ll be updated once any contest expires.
Keep in touch!
Thanks
Hi, why are the contests showing expired?
Hey Susan Mack
Writing contests have deadlines, so if any deadline has been met, an ‘expired ‘ tag comes along so you would know before clicking!
Our list has been updated, so there are no more expired ones!
Go writer!
I’m from Ghana and I have the interest to write the poems.
How do I submit my work?
Hey Ana-am Timothy Atanga
If you are eager to submit your poetry for contests, click on any provided links above and you’ll be able to find the required procedure for that specific contest.
Do remember, every contest has different requirements.
Hope Poetrymama was of help.
Thanks for contacting.
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Hey Stratton
It’s great to be of help. We at Poetrymama, highly appreciate your incorporating us!
Thank you for reviewing our work!
سلام ، سایت خیلی عالی دارید
I have been writing poetry for years now and never published any of my poems nor submitted them into any contests for fear that I could somehow lose all my rights because I don’t have a patent what do you suggest
Hey Grover!
Before submitting to any contest, we suggest you go through their guidelines first. Most of the contests provide all rights of the publication to its writer. Only publishing rights and distribution rights lie with the contest holder.
But, in case you don’t feel secure in doing so, we suggest you to submit your work to well known magazines. In that way, you’ll have all rights to yourself with additional payment from the magazine.
I got the rocks in my hand
Ain’t telling me what standing and shoot it
When I got passion I’m act as fool with it
I might cross you up fake one way
Turn around and hit you when ball went away
Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good.
Great to be of help, stay tuned for more!
Thank you for a very informative and helpful article/blog.
Stay tuned for new season of contests!
Most of my poems are personal for people that ask me to write for special occasions. Do the people have to give permission to use their names? I also write inspirational poems. How can I get more information and submit some of my writing? Thank You.
Yes Doborah, you have to ask if you can include any personal info in your poems whether name/residence/parentage.
We’ll soon update our contests to next upcoming poetry season. You can always come back n check if any particular contest applies for you.
Also, we’ve kept a free subscription to notification option available so that you’ll be able to know when there’s any new update on the site!
Thanks for a great compilation!
Thanks for compilation. It s really worthwhile, But I am unable to pay Entry Fee to “The National Poetry Foundation” for
my poetry submitted due to : No Clear for/advise/Account No. and 2ndly, unable to be member of Poetry Soup (for members only) as no clear advise/format there.
However, Thanks again for this work enabling us to go through it.
With regards,
Sukhendu Parui
No worries Sukhendu! We’ll put more of the contests that are easy to access.
Hi Jaezlan.
Thank you for your useful information.
I’m looking for International contests with these conditions:
1-free entry
2-Not limited to English, but Including other languages
necessarily Persian(Farsi).
3-Including poetry or/and short story.
But except ICPD Kazakhstan, I did not find one. Where can I find a contest with above conditions?
With great amount of love,
REZA
Hey Reza
We haven’t yet added contests outside english language but surely we’ll do in future.
For now, contact us on our e-mail i.e contact@poetrymama.com. We’ll help you find suitable contests.
Regards
Very useful information indeed. Thank you so much.
We’ll update our list for the new season soon!
Hello, I am writing from Nigeria. I am 73 years old with a huge interest in poetry. Kindly let me know how to submit my works for fair contests with my eights protected. Thanks
Hey there!
All you have to do is click on the links provided above, fill out their submission form and add your cover letter (if asked) and finally attach your work for the contest. All the above links are of recognized literature magazines which provides all rights to the writer.
Hello, my name is (Hussein Payam Hazim) I am from Iraqi Kurdistan. I will send you my poem to take part in the competition at the festival. I’ll be glad to participate. My poem is about women’s problems due to men.
I think it would be unique for a foreigner to attend your festival.
We encourage you to participate in upcoming contests although we are currently not hosting any poetry festival.
So good to read up here. Thankyou🙏🏼