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.
Poetry Contests:
Medmic Summer Poetry Contest
Deadline: July 1st to September 30th, 2023
Submission requirements: Poems can belong to any genre (free form, rhyming, sonnets, haiku, etc). They promote poets to send poems that relate to wellness or healthcare, but this is not absolutely mandatory.
Prize: Winner will receive a $200 amazon gift card. The 1st and 2nd runners up will have their poem published on www.medmic.com for 6 months and receive commentary from the contest judges. The winner will also have the option of promoting their work through a video interview on their site.
Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest
Deadline: August 15, 2023-April 1, 2024
Submission requirements: single poem accepted per person. It should contain a maximum of 250 lines. No restriction on the age of the author. Both unpublished and previously published work accepted.Inspired gibberish is also accepted.
Prize:
- First Prize: $2,000 plus a two-year gift certificate from our co-sponsor, Duotrope (a $100 value)
- Second Prize: $500
- Honorable Mentions: 10 awards of $100 each
- Top 12 entries published online
The Pushcart Prize
Deadline: October 1 – December 1
Submission requirements: original work only accepted. Only in the English language. Nominations must have been published (or scheduled to be published) in the current calendar year
Prize: Publishment
2023 Rattle Poetry Prize
Deadline for the Next Volume: 15th July 2023 (EXPIRED)
Submission requirement : open to all nationalities. Simultaneous submissions are accepted. Up to 4 poems are accepted with no line limit. Poems may be any length, any style, or any subject.
Prize: $15,000; Ten finalists will also receive $500 each and publication, and be eligible for the $5,000 Readers’ Choice Award,
POETRY FOUNDATION
Deadline: No deadline
Submission requirement: They consider only previously unpublished work with single submission of maximum 4 poems (up to 10 pages total) per category at one time for their contests.
Open to simultaneous submissions.
Payment: Text poems are paid $10/line with a minimum honorarium of $300 per poem. For visual poems, audio poems, and video poems, it’s $300 per poem. For prose, it’s $150 per published page.
The Archipelago contest 2023
Deadline: 22 July, 2033 (EXPIRED)
Submission requirements: One piece per entry. One entry per person for each week. The writing must be previously unpublished (including online). All entries must be in English. 700 – 1000 maximum word count for stories—150 maximum lines for poetry.
Prize: $100-150 AUD
Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2023
Deadline: 31st July, 2023 (EXPIRED)
Submission requirements: open to all nationalities. The poet must be aged between 11-17 years when work is submitted. All themes, lengths and styles are acceptable.
Prize : The top 15 winners will have their poems printed in the winners’ print anthology, 25,000 copies of which will be distributed to school, libraries and poetry enthusiasts.
Also, the top 15 winners will be invited to attend a life-changing residential writing course at one of the prestigious Arvon Centres, or receive alternative sustained mentoring from a professional poet.
The 85 commended poets will have their work published in an online anthology and their names in the print anthology.
The Eric Gregory Awards
Deadline: August to October 31st, 2023
Submission requirements: Applicants must be under the age of 30.Applications must be a British National, or resident in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Submissions must be no more than 30 poems.
Prize: publication and winning prizes
2024 Academy of American Poets First Book Award
Deadline: July 1, 2023 to September 1, 2023
Submission requirements: Writer should be U.S. Citizen; or resident of the United States for the ten-year period prior to the submission deadline. Entries must be at least 48 pages total.
Prize: $5,000
12th annual Ocean Awareness Contest
Deadline: 13th June 2023 (EXPIRED)
Submission requirements: Students ages 11-18 from around the world are invited to participate.Submission length for Junior Division is no more than 1 page and Senior Division is no more than 2 pages. All submissions must include a written reflection (artist’s statement) of at least 100 words.
Prize : $1500
GRAIN MAGAZINE
Deadline: open from September 15th to June 15th
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.
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.
5th Annual Young Poets Contest
Deadline: 15th June 2023 (EXPIRED)
Submission requirements: previously unpublished poem (of any length and style) within two age groups: young poets aged 13-18 and young poets aged 19-25 are accepted. Up to two poems may be submitted.
Prize: Two grand prizes of $500 each will be awarded
The 9th Singapore Poetry Contest
Deadline: 15 May, 2023 (EXPIRED)
Submission requirements: maximum 3 poems to be submitted. Only unpublished is accepted. Simultaneous submissions are not allowed.
Payment: Awards of USD300, 200, and 100 will go to the top three winners. The winning poems will be published on SUSPECT; non-winning poems will be considered for publication as well.
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.
The National Poetry Competition
Deadline: 31st October, 2023
Submission requirements: unpublished poem of up to 40 lines are accepted. Contest is open to all poets worldwide aged 18 or over.
Payment: Publishment and Winning prize
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
The Alpine Fellowship Poetry Prizes 2023
Deadline: 1st January 2023 to 1st March 2023 at 23:59 (UK time) (Expired)
Submission requirements: Applicants must be aged 18 or above with all entries in English. A single poem or a collection of poems are accepted at a time with maximum of 500 words per entry for the poetry contest.
Prize: First place: £3,000 cash grant , Second place: £1,000 travel expense, Third place: £1,000 with travel expense and the runners up will receive travel expense support that must be used to attend our 2023 symposium
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
VQR
Deadline: Not mentioned (Expired)
Submission requirements: They only consider unpublished work with four poems per reading period. Simultaneous submissions are permitted.
Payment: They pay $200 per poem, up to 4 poems; for a suite of 5 or more poems, they pay $1,000.
Annual BSFS Poetry Contest
Deadline: March 1, 2023. (Expired)
Submission requirements: Entries should address the themes of science fiction/fantasy/horror/science. 3 poems/person, maximum 60 lines each is accepted for this poetry contest.
Prize: 1st prize: $100; 2nd prize: $75; 3rd prize: $50.
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.
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.
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.
26 thoughts on “20 Free Poetry Contests to enter in 2023”
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!