Official Guidelines

Southern Indiana Review will award a prize of $6000 and publication for a full-length poetry manuscript written in English submitted under the following guidelines.

Each submission must:

• Be available for exclusive manuscript publication (individual poems may have been previously published in magazines, anthologies, or chapbooks) by SIR Press. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but if the entry is accepted by another publisher while under consideration, the author must promptly notify SIR in writing to withdraw the entry.

• Include a non-refundable entry fee of $35. Make check or money order payable to Southern Indiana Review. Please do not send cash.

• List the author’s name, street address, email address, and phone number on a cover page.

• Include a Table of Contents of poems submitted, including page number(s).

• List only the title of sections/poems on each page thereafter (to preserve anonymity).

• Consist of at least 40 and no more than 100 pages of poetry in 12-point font (no more than one poem per page) per each individual submission. The cover/content pages do not count towards the 100-page maximum. Publication credits, if included, do not count against page limit. All acknowledgments will be removed from manuscript(s) to preserve anonymity.

• If mailed/printed submission, be addressed to Southern Indiana Review, Michael Waters Poetry Prize, University of Southern Indiana, 8600 University Boulevard, Evansville, IN, 47712.

• If digital/electronic submission, be uploaded via SIR’s Submittable page.

• Be postmarked or uploaded by February 1, 2024.

• If mailed/printed submission, include SAS postcard for receipt acknowledgment and/or SASE for contest results. All manuscripts will be recycled.

• Current and former students and employees of the University of Southern Indiana are not eligible for the Prize. All contest submissions will be considered for book publication. All themes and/or subject matters are eligible. Handwritten submissions will not be accepted. Winner receives a standard publishing contract with SIR Press. If final judge is unable to reach a decision, SIR Press editors will select the prize-winning collection.