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WISCONSIN POETRY PRIZES SUBMISSION GUIDE

The University of Wisconsin Press awards the Brittingham Prize in Poetry, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry, and the Wisconsin Prize for Poetry in Translation. Each winning poet receives a $1,500 cash prize and publication by the University of Wisconsin Press. Prizes are awarded annually to the two best book-length manuscripts of original poetry and the best translated volume of poetry submitted in an open competition. Each original manuscript submitted is considered for the Brittingham Prize and the Felix Pollak Prize. There are no restrictions on the kind of poetry or the subject matter. The winners are announced and the prizes awarded in February of each calendar year, with publishing contracts to follow soon thereafter. In addition, the University of Wisconsin Press also awards the Four Lakes Prize in Poetry on occasions when one of the best original manuscripts is submitted by a poet who has previously been published in the Wisconsin Poetry Series. Finalist volumes are also considered for publishing contracts.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Poets must submit their manuscripts electronically by using our submission manager.

SUBMISSION PERIOD:

Manuscripts submitted electronically from July 15 through September 15 of each calendar year will be considered. Manuscripts received before July 15 or after September 15 will be ineligible.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

  • Manuscripts must be typed single-spaced with a double space between stanzas.
  • Original manuscripts must be previously unpublished in book form; translated manuscripts must be previously unpublished in book form in English. Poems published in journals, chapbooks, and anthologies may be included but must be acknowledged.
  • No changes in the manuscript will be considered between submission and acceptance.
  • A $28.00 nonrefundable reading fee must accompany each manuscript.
  • Simultaneous submissions to other contests are permitted provided the poet agrees to inform the Press of the manuscript’s acceptance for publication elsewhere.

SELECTION PROCEDURE:

Qualified readers appointed by the Press screen all manuscripts anonymously. Brittingham, Felix Pollak, and Poetry in Translation prize winners are selected by a distinguished outside judge. Four Lakes prize winners (for poets previously published in the series), along with two or three other finalists, are selected by the series editors for publication.



Send all questions to the series editors, Sean Bishop and Jesse Lee Kercheval:

sean.bishop@wisc.edu and jlkercheval@gmail.com