The Georgia Poetry Prize is open to unpublished, original collections of poems written in English by residents of North America.

Dates for submission: Manuscripts may be submitted between 9:00 a.m. EST on October 1 and 5:00 p.m. EST on November 30. Winners will be announced by early March.

Contest queries can be directed to press@uga.edu. The press will not accept phone calls regarding The Georgia Poetry Prize. If you encounter any technical difficulties while using the submissions manager, don’t hesitate to contact our submission manager support: support@submittable.com and/or phone: (855) 467-8264, ext. 2. The $25 entry fee can be paid online via credit card or PayPal.

Selection process: Each of two preliminary judges reads approximately one-half of the manuscripts submitted to the competition. The preliminary judges select ten finalists each; the pool of finalist manuscripts is read by an annually designated chief judge, who makes the final selection of one winning manuscript and a runner-up. Authors of winning manuscripts receive a cash award of $1,000, and their collections are subsequently published by the University of Georgia Press under a standard book contract. Winners have ten days to accept the award and ten days to sign the contract following receipt.

Eligibility: The competition is open to writers in English, whether published or unpublished. Previous winners of this award are not eligible to win again. Writers must be residents of North America.

Manuscript Guidelines

–Manuscripts are recommended to be a minimum of 50 pages to a recommended maximum of 100 pages of original poetry. No more than one poem should appear on a page.

–Please be sure manuscript pages are numbered.

–Please include a table of contents.

–Please use a standard, easy-to-read font such as Times New Roman in twelve-point size.

–Poems included in the submission may have appeared previously in magazines or anthologies but may not have been previously published in a book-length collection of the author’s own work.

–Authors may submit more than one manuscript to the competition for consideration as long as no material is duplicated between submissions. Each submission will require a separate entry fee.

–Manuscripts under consideration for this competition may be submitted elsewhere at the same time. Please withdraw your manuscript if it is accepted by another publisher and should no longer be considered for The Georgia Poetry Prize competition. Withdrawal can be completed via the submissions manager website. Entry fees are not refundable.

–Blind review: The intent of this contest is that manuscripts will be considered on the merits of the poetry and that judges will not be aware of the names or publication records of the authors.

–Please do not include your name on the pages of the manuscript—only in the form boxes of the electronic submission manager. The first page of the manuscript should include the title of the collection only.

–Please do not include a list of acknowledgments crediting where poems have been published.

–Judges who recognize work will recuse themselves, and the submission will be reassigned to a different judge.

–Confirmation of receipt and notification: You should receive an e-mail confirmation immediately after submission. An announcement of winners and finalists will be sent to all entrants via e-mail by early March.