The winner of each of the three Omnidawn poetry book competitions wins either a $1,000 or a $3,000 cash prize, publication of the book with a full color cover by Omnidawn, 100 free copies of the winning book, and extensive display advertising and publicity, including prominent display ads in American Poetry Review, Poets & Writers Magazine, Rain Taxi Review of Books and other publications. All three Omnidawn poetry book contests have very similar guidelines and submission procedures, as completely described on this web page. The requirements that are the same for all contests include the following: Postal and online poetry contest submissions are accepted for all contests. Manuscript submissions for all contests must be original, in English, and previously unpublished, although individual poems in a manuscript are still eligible for this contest if they have been previously published in print or web magazines, journals, anthologies, or on a personal web site. Revisions are not allowed during the contests. Translations and manuscripts by more than one author are not eligible. All Omnidawn contests are blind, so you can submit manuscripts that contain identifying information, but please be aware that such information will be removed from manuscripts before they are passed on to our editors who select manuscripts to be sent to the judge. If we find a serious error in your entry we will either fix it or contact you to obtain a fix at no cost to you, so your error will not disqualify you. The only differences between Omnidawn poetry contests are the contest dates, the judge, the dollar amount of the prize, the reading fee, the manuscript page limit, an optional Omnidawn book offer, and for one contest only, the First/Second Book Poetry Contest, a limit on the number of previously published full-size books by a submitting poet. These differences are described immediately below, under the "Current Poetry Competition" and "Upcoming Poetry Competitions" headings.
(Note that the deadline has been extended to March 15, 2012.) Open to writers with no limitations on the amount of poetry a writer has published. Submissions should be 20–40 pages of poetry, not including front and back matter (so that this will fit in a 5.5 x 7 inch published chapbook of approximately 50 pages or less). Friends, colleagues and students of the judge, Joseph Lease, are not eligible. Postal and online poetry contest submissions accepted. Manuscripts must be received or postmarked between January 1 and March 15, 2012 at midnight Pacific Standard Time. Reading fee is $15 for the poetry chapbook contest. For $2 extra to cover shipping cost, entrants who provide a U.S. mailing address may choose to receive any Omnidawn chapbook or this chapbook competitions winning chapbook. The poetry chapbook contests winner will be announced to our email list and on this web page in August 2012, and we expect to publish the winning chapbook in December of 2012.
All the essential information for the current chapbook contest is contained in the above two paragraphs.
If you want to read helpful additional details, which are virtually identical for all Omnidawn contests, and then go to the submission procedures, you can:
Click here for helpful additional details and the submission procedures.
OR, if you want to skip the additional details and go directly to concise submission procedures, you can either:
Go to the POSTAL submission procedure by clicking here.
OR
Go to the ONLINE submission web page by clicking here, or paste the following link into your browser: www.omnidawn.net
First/Second Book poetry contest open to writers who have either never published a full-length book of poetry, or who have published only one full-length book of poetry, so that the winning book would become a poet's first or second published book of poetry. Writers who have published two or more full length books of poetry are NOT eligible. (Chapbooks do not count.) The manuscript page limit is 140 pages for this poetry book contest. (Most manuscripts we receive are 40-70 pages long.) Friends, colleagues and students of the judge, Brenda Hillman, are not eligible. Postal and online poetry contest submissions accepted. Manuscripts must be received or postmarked between May 1 and June 30, 2012 at midnight Pacific Daylight Time. Reading fee is $25. For $3 extra to cover shipping cost, entrants who provide a U.S. mailing address may choose to receive any Omnidawn book (including 4 PEN USA winning books) or this poetry book contest's winning book. The winner will be announced to our email list and on this web page in November 2012, and we expect to publish the winning book in the fall of 2013. Click here for helpful additional details and submission procedures that are virtually identical for all Omnidawn Contests.
Open poetry book competition for writers with no limitations on the amount of poetry a writer has published. The manuscript page limit is 140 pages for this poetry book contest. (Most manuscripts we receive are 40-80 pages long.) Friends, colleagues and students of the judge, Cole Swenson, are not eligible. Postal and online poetry contests submissions accepted. Manuscripts must be received or postmarked between November 1 and December 31, 2012 at midnight Pacific Standard Time. Reading fee is $25. For $3 extra to cover shipping cost, entrants who provide a U.S. mailing address may choose to receive any Omnidawn book (including 4 PEN USA winning books) or this contests winning book. The winner will be announced to our email list and on this web page in May 2013, and we expect to publish the winning book in the spring of 2014. Click here for helpful additional details and submission procedures that are virtually identical for all Omnidawn Contests.
Poet kathryn l. pringle lives in Oakland, California. She received her MFA in Poetry from San Francisco State University. She is the author of one book of poetry, RIGHT NEW BIOLOGY (Factory School) and two chapbooks, The Stills (Duration Press) and Temper and Felicity are lovers (TAXT). Her work can also be found in the anthology Conversations at the Wartime Cafe: A Decade of War (Conversations at the Wartime Cafe Press/WODV Press) and in the forthcoming anthology I’ll Drown My Book: Conceptual Writing by Women (Les Figues). She is currently writing a novel about place.
The Finalists of the 2011 First/Second Book Competition (in alphabetical order by last name) are: Jill Darling, Mount Clemens, Michigan; Leora Fridman, Florence, Massachusetts; Eryn Green, Denver, Colorado; Jane Gregory, Berkeley, California; and Soham Patel, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Evan Harrison lives in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In 2011, he received an MA in creative writing from The Center for Writers at The University of Southern Mississippi. His poems have appeared in alice blue, Bat City Review, CutBank, DIAGRAM, Hayden's Ferry Review and otoliths. Sham City will be available in December 2011.
The Finalists of the 2011 Chapbook Competition (in alphabetical order by last name) are: Brian Foley, Northampton, Massachusetts; Hugo Garcia Manriquez, Oakland, California; Nicholas Gulig, Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Megan Pruiett, San Francisco, California; and M. A. Vizolyi, Brooklyn, New York.
The following details are identical for all Omnidawn poetry contests with the following exception: The reading fee and optional Omnidawn book offer is described below for the current Omnidawn Poetry Chapbook Contest and this reading fee and book offer differs for other future contests as follows: For the current poetry chapbook contest, the reading fee is $15, and if you have or can provide a U.S. mailing address, for an additional $2 for shipping cost (a total of $17) you can choose to receive the winning chapbook or any Omnidawn chapbook of your choice. For the other future contests the reading fee is $25, and for an additional $3 (a total of $28), you can choose any Omnidawn book, so you are not limited to a choice from only the Omnidawn chapbooks.
Note that if we find any significant problem with your manuscript (your manuscript file won’t open, important information is missing, or any other significant problem) we will contact you so that you have every opportunity to correct the issue at no charge to you. An error or deficiency in your manuscript, including spelling, punctuation, typographical errors, or coffee stains will not disqualify you from the competition. (We fully understand that such errors sometimes occur for everyone, and that these can be easily corrected later.) The only really critical requirements are to check the eligibility requirements (described in the top paragraph of this web page and the paragraph for each contest in the "Current Poetry Competition" and "Upcoming Poetry Competitions" sections, also at the top of this web page), to make sure that you have provided correct contact information, that you are fully satisfied with your manuscript (because revisions are not allowed during the contest), and that you do get your submission in by the deadline.
Any identifying information will be removed from all manuscripts before they are sent to the editors who choose the semi-finalists to be sent to the judge. (If your name is an integral part of your poetry, please contact us for guidelines on replacing it with a pseudonym.) All manuscripts will be given a number to associate them with the contact information of their submitters. The Omnidawn staff members who remove the identifying information are NOT involved in the reading or selection of manuscripts.
All manuscripts will then be read by at least two different editors. Only Omnidawn's Senior Poetry Editor and Poetry Editors will read submissions, and these editors will not have access to the identities of the submitters. For the sake of avoiding any conflict of interest, if an editor believes that he/she recognizes the work of a colleague, student, or friend, then that manuscript is given to another editor. The editors will select the semi-finalists to be sent to the judge. The judge will then select the winner and five finalists. If the judge wishes to see additional manuscripts, she or he may request them; the judge is not, however, permitted to request specific manuscripts. Friends, colleagues, and/or past or present students of the judge are not eligible to compete. Past or present Omnidawn staff and interns are also not eligible to compete. The judge is not allowed to choose manuscripts that present a conflict of interest.
Omnidawn abides by The CLMP Code of Ethics. The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses’ community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to 1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our staff, editors, or judges; 2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines — defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and 3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.
Option 1: Submit on our secure web site. (Most submissions are via our online poetry contest web site. This is usually the easiest way to submit.)
Option 2: Submit via postal mail.
Procedures for each of these options are listed in detail below.
To go to the secure submissions page and begin the electronic submission process, please click the button below.
[ CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT ONLINE ]
Or paste the following link into your browser: www.omnidawn.net
If you have any questions send an email to submissions@omnidawn.com or telephone our toll free number (800) 792-4957. If we can’t take your call immediately, we can usually call you back within 30 minutes.
Please DO NOT send Fed Ex, UPS, or signature required US Post Office envelopes. These will not be accepted.
Note that if you send a cover letter, acknowledgements, or bio these will be removed before your manuscript is read.
Please enclose the following:
1. One title page with your name, contact information, and where you learned about our contest (to the best of your recollection). Please include your mailing address, phone number, and email address if you have one. This title page with contact info can be at the front or, so you don’t have to repaginate, at the back of your manuscript
2. One title page with manuscript title only and nothing else.
3. Your poetry manuscript.
4. For this chapbook contest, include a check or money order made out to Omnidawn for the reading fee of either $15 or $17.
Enclose $15 if you choose to receive NO book
OR,
if you have a U.S mailing address (or can provide a U.S. mailing address), you can enclose $17 ($2 extra for shipping cost) to receive your choice of any Omnidawn chapbook. If you choose to pay $17 to receive a chapbook, please use the title page that has your contact info to write your choice of book or to write “send this contests winning chapbook.” A complete list of all current Omnidawn chapbooks is available at www.omnidawn.com/chapbook-catalog.htm. If you choose a chapbook from our catalog, you should receive it within two weeks after your entry is received at Omnidawn. If you pay the extra $2 and forget to specify your choice of chapbook we will send you an email to ask your choice of chapbook, or you can also send an email to submissions@omnidawn.com to let us know your choice.
5. All manuscripts will be deleted or recycled at the end of the contest. For entries sent by postal mail, please do NOT send an SASE for return of the manuscript.
6. (Optional) A self-addressed stamped postcard and/or a standard sized SASE. You may, if you choose, include a self-addressed stamped postcard, and we will mail this back to you to verify that your manuscript has been received. (If you include an Email address, you will also receive an email when we enter your submission into our database, and this usually occurs within 24 hours after we receive it, so this email will likely precede your receipt of a postcard. You may also enclose a standard size SASE and we will use this to send you information on the winner and finalists when these are determined. (If you include an Email address, you will also receive an email notification of the winners and finalists when they are chosen.)
Send postal submissions via First Class or Priority Mail to:
Omnidawn Poetry Chapbook Contest
Omnidawn Publishing
1632 Elm Avenue
Richmond, CA 94805-1614
© Copyright Omnidawn, 2011, 2012