Women’s Poetry Contest Guidelines
WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO ENTER:
Women poets
CONTEST DATES:
Entry: November 1, 2023 – February 15, 2024
First-round reading period: February 15–Feb 28
Finalist reading period for the judge: March 1–15
Winners announced: March 15, 2024
PRIZES:
First Place
$500
Feature in virtual reading
Featured poet publication in The Orchards Poetry Journal Summer 2024
Free print contributor copy of the Summer 2024 issue
No reading fee for one future manuscript submission to Kelsay Books
Second Place
$100
Publication in The Orchards Poetry Journal Summer 2024
Free print contributor copy of the Summer 2024 issue
No reading fee for one future manuscript submission to Kelsay Books.
Two Honorable Mentions
Publication in The Orchards Poetry Journal Summer 2024
Free print contributor copy of the Summer 2024 issue
No reading fee for one future manuscript submission to Kelsay Books
ENTRY FEE:
$15 for three poems
Submit fee at the bottom of this page
(Enter as many times as you wish)
JUDGE:
Allison Joseph
Allison Joseph lives, writes, and teaches in Carbondale, IL, where she is on the creative writing faculty at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Born in London, UK to parents of Caribbean lineage, she has lived in Toronto, Canada and the Bronx, NY. She holds degrees from Kenyon College and Indiana University. Her many books of poetry include Confessions of a Barefaced Woman (Red Hen Press), Lexicon (Red Hen Press), and Professional Happiness (Backbone Press). Her honors include a nomination for the NAACP Image Award in Poetry, fellowships from the Breadloaf and Sewanee Writers Conferences, and being selected as the Illinois Author of the Year by the Illinois Association of Teachers of English. She is the widow of the much-missed poet and editor Jon Tribble.
WHAT TO ENTER:
Poetry, any form, up to 30 lines in length
File Type: Word documents (no PDFs, please)
Simultaneous Submissions: Not accepted
Previously Published: Previously published poems are accepted
as long as the author retains rights
Judging Method: We are judging with names redacted
Remove your name from your poetry document
Note: No revisions after submission
HOW TO ENTER:
1. First, pay the entry fee (see below). For 1–3 poems, the cost is $15.00.
Multiple entries are allowed.
2. Include your PayPal transaction ID inside the body of your email.
The transaction ID is emailed to you once the PayPal
payment has been accepted.
3. Write CONTEST in the subject line of your email.
4. The body of the email should contain the titles of your poems
and your name, address, and 50-word biography.
5. Submit 1–3 poems in ONE Word document attached to the email.
If you send multiple entries, you must pay new submission fees
and submit a new Word document for each group of poems.
Send a new email for each batch of submissions.
6. Do NOT put your name in the Word document containing your poems.
We are judging with names redacted.
WE ARE NOW CLOSED FOR SUBMISSIONS.