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Frontier Poetry’s Myths & Fables Prize Deadline
September 7, 11:59 PM EDT
$20
In our continued celebration of imagination, storytelling, and the power of archetype, Frontier Poetry is thrilled to announce the Myths & Fables Prize. In her poem “Circe’s Power,” Louise Glück invokes the voice of the sorceress: “I never turned anyone into a pig. / Some people are pigs; I make them / look like pigs.” With chilling clarity, she peels back the veil of fantasy to reveal something deeply human—desire, illusion, transformation. These ancient tales, passed down through firelight and ink, still echo in our modern hearts.
We invite you to lend your voice to this lineage. The 2025 Myths & Fables Prize seeks poems that engage in mythological figures, cultural lore, personal legends, and reimagined fairytales. Whether you’re unearthing stories from your heritages, wrestling with gods and monsters, or crafting your own fables from the smoke of memory—send us work that is fearless, lyrical, and rich in poetic craft. We welcome traditional retellings and radical departures. Invented myths, fractured fairy tales, elegies for forgotten heroes, or whispered epics—let your poetry become the spell.
Frontier Poetry warmly encourages submission from poets of all identities, cultural backgrounds, and traditions. We are especially interested in work that explores underrepresented mythologies and stories not often given space in the Western literary canon.
Guest judge Jennifer Chang will select the winners. The first-place winner will receive $3000 and publication. The second- and third-place winners will receive $300 and $200, respectively, along with publication. All finalists will be considered for paid publication in New Voices.
Let the myths arise.
This contest opens July 1 to September 7, 2025
Further reading can be found here:
Fable for a Genome by Heather Green
The Uncursing of the Medusa by Ola Faleti
Refusing Eurydice by Ladan Osman
At Ithaca by Hilda Doolittle (H.D)
About the Guest Judge:
Jennifer Chang is the author of The History of Anonymity, Some Say the Lark, and An Authentic Life, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. Her other honors include the William Carlos Williams Award, the Levinson Prize from Poetry, and fellowships to the Elizabeth Murray Artists Residency, MacDowell, and Yaddo. She teaches at the University of Texas in Austin and is the poetry editor of New England Review.
What Chang Is Looking For:
Guidelines:
Editorial Feedback Option:
Note on What We Look For
We do not hold preference for any particular style or topic—we simply seek the best poems we can find. Send us work that is blister, that is color, that strikes hot the urge to live and be. For a sense of what we are looking for, read through our previously published poems or What We Look For. We warmly and sincerely invite all voices, and especially those that have been historically marginalized and silenced to submit work.
We also encourage you to submit your poetry for free to our New Voices, open year-round. We pay our emerging NV poets $50 per poem, published every Friday. New Voices is the beating heart of Frontier, and we hope to read your work soon. Thank you so much for supporting the community of new and emerging poets.
