The Letter Review Prize for Poetry (Poetry Contest)

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Complete Submission Guidelines / Checklist:

  • Prizes: $1000 USD prize pool shared by 2-4 winners, up to 20 shortlisted. Winners published (600,000 readers yearly). Winners frequently submitted to opportunities such as The Pushcart Prize. Optional author interview.
  • The Letter Review Prize awards $20,000 USD annually, meaning it is among the highest paying literary prizes in the world maintained by a literary journal. 
  • We are proud members of CLMP and adhere to the CLMP Contest Code of Ethics. 
  • Entrants retain ownership of / copyright in their writing. 
  • Your entry must be entirely original, unpublished, and free from any claims by other parties. Entries may previously have appeared on your personal media (blog / social media etc). 
  • Length: Up to 70 lines. 
  • The Prize is open to anyone, from anywhere in the world.
  • There are no theme, form, or genre restrictions: all entries welcome. 
  • Marked blind. 
  • You may submit work that has been awarded elsewhere, as long as no part of it has been published. 
  • 'Retellings' or contemporizations must be acknowledged in the cover letter or on your submission document. 
  • Single author work only.
  • Submissions by agents welcome. 
  • Translations: Entrants may submit translations of their own writing (but not translations of the work of others). See the T&C for further details. 
  • Any non-English phrases which are uncommon should be accompanied by a translation. Light quotation from another work is acceptable if it is acknowledged in your cover letter or in the submission document.
  • To gain the best understanding of the work we are seeking we encourage all entrants to consider subscribing to The Letter Review.
  • The entry cost is $15 USD per poem. Additional entries are $10 each. 
  • Any font / size / spacing.  
  • Cover Letter: Please include a short biography (suitable for publication) of less than 200 words in the Cover Letter section. Please also let us know where you heard about the Prize.
  • Ensure the file name of each document is only the title of your entry. Do not include your name inside your entry document(s) or in the file name as the Prize is judged blind.
  • By entering you agree to our Terms and Conditions.
  • Simultaneous submissions are allowed. If you decide to publish your entry elsewhere, please withdraw from our Prize.
  • The Letter Review Prize is a career-enhancing laurel that offers both publication and monetary awards to the winners, improving their public profile, and lifting careers to new zeniths. 

Enter via the secure and globally trusted platform Submittable using the form below. If there is no form below then access the form by clicking 'Submit' next to the Prize title above, or by clicking this link: https://letterreview.submittable.com/submit/341259/the-letter-review-prize-for-poetry-poetry-contest

No entries via post please. Click here for a guide to using Submittable. 

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