The Malahat Review invites entries for its biennial Long Poem Prize.

The contest is open to Canadian and international writers anywhere in the world.

Deadline: 11:59pm (PST) on 1 February 2023.

Two winners will receive a prize of CAD $1,250 each and be published in the magazine’s summer 2023 issue #223.

This contest is offered every second year, alternating with the Novella Prize. Entries accepted via Submittable only.

Contest Judges
Bertrand Bickersteth
Jennifer Still
Read the judges’ bios here.

Book Prize
In addition to the $2,500 in prize money, we’re giving away poetry books to one lucky contest entrant! All you have to do is submit your work to the contest, and you’ll be automatically entered to win. After the deadline, we’ll pull a name from the list of entrants.

Guidelines

Each entry must be a single poem or cycle of poems that will occupy between 10 and 20 printed pages when published in The Malahat Review. Poems published in the magazine occupy no more than 36 lines per printed page, a line-count that includes all spaces and breaks between lines, stanzas, and sections. In a cycle of poems, each poem must begin on a new page, even if the preceding poem ends before the 36th line is reached. In a multi-part poem, the author may decide whether or not each section begins on a new page. *Click here for further information about the 36-line rule.*

Collaborative long poems by two or more authors are eligible.

All entries are judged anonymously (no identifying information is to be included on any poem submitted).

Multiple entries are allowed (at a reduced fee, if paid for at the same time as the initial entry: see Entry Fees and How to Submit below).

Entrants who submit more than one long poem to the contest in the same year may be shortlisted for only one entry and may win only one of the two prizes.

Entry Fees

CAD $35 for each entry from Canada *early bird discount until Dec. 31, 2022: CAD $20

CAD $45 for each entry from elsewhere *early bird discount until Dec. 31, 2022: CAD $30

CAD $15 for each additional entry (any writer, any country)

See How to Pay (below) for detailed instructions.

Entrants receive a one-year print subscription to The Malahat Review for the initial entry only.
Additional Entries
To receive the reduced entry fee(s) of CAD $15, any additional entries must be paid for at the same time as the first entry; such additional entries should be submitted online within 24 hours of the initial submission.

Eligible Entries

No work simultaneously submitted elsewhere, already published, or already accepted for publication is eligible for consideration (even if only excerpted, or even if revised since original publication). We consider any appearance in print or online to be a publication, including newspapers, newsletters, magazines, anthologies, chapbooks, books, websites, blogs, social media, etc. This restriction applies regardless of the size of the print run or the extent of the circulation of previously published work.

Failure to comply with these criteria for eligibility will immediately disqualify any entry, regardless of when the ineligiblity is discovered in the process of adjudication (submission, processing, screening, shortlisting, final judging).

The entry fee for a disqualified submission will not be refunded, and the entrant will still receive a one-year print subscription to the magazine.