The Other Futures Award is given annually to an innovative, adventurous full-length work that challenges conventions of genre and language, content and form. Send us writing that imagines new lived or literary possibilities, and questions established paradigms.

The winner will receive publication with Futurepoem, an honorarium of $1000, a standard royalty contract, and 25 author copies. We will announce our decision in late 2023. The winning book will be published in 2025.

PROCESS: All submissions are read by at least two Futurepoem staff readers, who then recommend a limited group of manuscripts to the permanent editors. The winning manuscript is selected by Futurepoem’s permanent editorial staff. Our process is identity-hidden, so please be sure that the author’s name does not appear anywhere in the manuscript.

ELIGIBILITY: We welcome submissions by writers at any stage of their career. Manuscripts must be unpublished book-length works of prose, poetry, or multi-genre work. And though we are open to books with visuals, we have a limited capacity to support image-based projects. We publish poetry, first and foremost, and heavily image-based projects will be better served by a different publisher. Previously published poems or chapbooks may be included, but the manuscript as a whole must be unpublished. Writers who are not U.S. citizens are welcome to send work. Past or present students, colleagues, or close friends of Futurepoem editors are not eligible to submit.

TRANSLATIONS: We do not publish translations of works originally written in languages other than English. However, previously unpublished texts that engage bilingual or multilingual practices are welcome.

SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: We accept simultaneous submissions. Please notify Futurepoem as soon as possible if your book is accepted elsewhere.

MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS: We accept multiple submissions from the same author. Each manuscript should be submitted separately including a separate entry fee.

FORMAT: Suggested length is 50 to 150 pages, though manuscripts may be slightly shorter or longer. The Other Futures Award is an anonymized contest. Please include a title page with title only, and a table of contents. The author’s name should NOT appear anywhere in the manuscript.

REVISIONS: While we are not able to accept revisions during the reading period, the winner will be able to revise their manuscript before publication.

HOW TO SUBMIT: Please submit online using our Submittable page (futurepoem.submittable.com/submit). We cannot accept hardcopy or emailed submissions. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with our catalog before you submit.

ENTRY FEE: $28. We also offer need-based reduced fees of $18 and $9; please select the fee that is most appropriate for you. You can also choose to partially sponsor someone else’s submission for $35. A fee waiver is available for anyone who may need it — if the lowest fee represents a hardship for you, please email ahana@futurepoem.com with subject line: 2023 OFA Fee Waiver.

DEADLINE: August 15, 2023 at 11:59pm EST. The submission period begins on July 15, 2022.