Submission Dates: January 1 – March 31, 2010 (postmark or email deadline) by online submission manager or regular mail. Postmark deadline March 31 and email deadline (by 3 am EST April 1).
Awarding publication of a book-length collection and $1000.
Open to any poet writing in English who has not previously published a book-length poetry collection.
Submissions accepted on-line (preferred) and by mail.
Please read the following instructions carefully.
Online submission:
Submitting to us online is easy, saves you money, and saves trees.
• Fill out our online entry form and follow the directions for online credit card payment on our secure site.
• You will be assigned an online entry number. You will then submit your manuscript through our online submissions program.
By mail:
• Submit a previously unpublished, full-length poetry manuscript by regular mail (USPS only).
• Please include a completed Entry Form. Click here to download the Entry Form (PDF format). (You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print the Entry Form.)
• Include one cover page with the title of your work and all of your contact information, including your email address if you have one. Your name and contact information should not appear anywhere else in the manuscript.
• You must include a second cover page with just the title of your work, no other contact info.
• No more than one poem per page, please. More than one section of a poem can appear on a page, of course.
• No page limit, but we recommend a length of between 48 and 80 pages of poetry. This page limit does not include your title page, notes, etc.
• Do not include art work.
• Please use a legible font of 12 point.
• Include an entry fee of $25 with your submission, by check, made payable to Four Way Books. A stamped self-addressed postcard may be included to confirm receipt of manuscript. Multiple submissions may be mailed together. If you submit more than one manuscript, please supply contact info for both and an increased fee ($25 per submission).
• Please let us know immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
• Material in your manuscript may have been published previously in a chapbook, magazines, journals or anthologies, but the work as a whole must be unpublished.
• Translations and previously self-published books are not eligible.
* Please do not submit to this contest if you are close enough to Alan Shapiro that his integrity, your integrity, and the integrity of Four Way Books would be called into question should you be selected as the winner. You may query us if you have questions regarding this matter. We will allow you to submit to us outside of the contest if you feel that you are treading deep water in this regard. Please query by email to editors@fourwaybooks.com.
• Mail submission and entry fee to:
Four Way Books
POB 535 Village Station
New York NY 10014
Our Reading Policy
Each manuscript is delivered to our readers as a blind submission. That is, it is stripped of identifying material. Only the manuscript, inclusive of any text notes, is sent to the readers and, if chosen as a finalist, to the judge. We do not give a list of submitters to the judge.
Our preliminary readers for the contest are selected by the director of the press and are published poets, experienced editors, and/or poets who have received a graduate degree in creative writing or literature. Each manuscript is read by at least two readers. We regularly rotate our readers.
Our readers select an average of 20-40 manuscripts as finalist selections. They look for work that is beautifully crafted–manuscripts that feel whole and well shaped. They do not try to second guess a judge’s preference. Rather, they look to present a wide range of excellent work to the judge.
Finalists are notified in May that their work will be sent on to the judge. On occasion, a judge may ask to see more work – the judge is not allowed to ask for specific work by a specific writer, but may ask to see a wider sampling of strong work. If that is the case, the press reviews the submissions again and more manuscripts are sent to the judge as finalists. Therefore, we do not inform the public of finalist selections since that list may grow after May.
The judge is instructed to notify the press of any indiscretions. If a submitter contacts the judge regarding the contest, that person will be disqualified. If the judge does not select a winner, the press’s director and senior editor will select a finalist’s manuscript to publish.
* Please do not submit to this contest if you are close enough to Alan Shapiro that his integrity, your integrity, and the integrity of Four Way Books would be called into question should you be selected as the winner. You may query us if you have questions regarding this matter. We will allow you to submit to us outside of the contest if you feel that you are treading deep water in this regard. Please query by email to editors@fourwaybooks.com.
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