Final Judge: Joe Weil

www.splitoakpress.com/Contests.html

Prize $250 and 20 copies

Submissions for the yearly chapbook contest will be accepted through May 30, 2009. The winning manuscript will be published in Summer/Fall 2009. There is the strong possibility of an Editor’s Choice Award being offered publication along with publication of the contest winner. Scroll down for submission details and judge bio.

Requirements:
– Chapbook manuscripts should be between 24 to 28 pages in length.
– The poems in the manuscript should have a cohesive structure.
– Poems within the manuscript may have been published in individual magazines, journals, e-zines, etc. but may not have been published together as a book/chapbook.
– A non-refundable entry fee of $15 must be included and made payable to Split Oak Press. If the manuscript is simultaneously submitted and while under consideration by Split Oak Press is accepted for publication elsewhere, the entry fee will not be refunded.
– Please include two (2) title pages: one with the title of the manuscript and and the poet’s contact information including name, address, phone number and email; the second should include the title of the chapbook at the very top and the table of contents below that. The poet’s name or other identification should not appear on this cover.
– The poet’s name must not appear on any page of the actual manuscript.
– The poet must own the copyright to the poems in the work or be able to secure permission to reprint any copyrighted poem included.
– The winning poet must submit a copy of the poems in Word format as an attachment via email to the editor (as a .doc or .rtf file).
– Include a self-addressed, stamped postcard for notification of manuscript receipt only.
– Winner will be announced via email.
– Manuscripts will not be returned.

*Publisher reserves the right not to publish if a suitable manuscript is not found. In that case, submission fees will be returned to the writers.

2009 Judge: Joe Weil is a good piano player, half way decent singer, and a fraud as a guitarist. Most recently he has been hawking two new collections of his work: What Remains (Nightshade press) and Painting The Christmas Trees (Texas Review Press). He has read both in Opera houses and in laundry mats, the latter under a bare bulb that swung through the air and cast eerie shadows across the room. He presently works as an instructor in the creative writing department at Binghamton University, and is trying, with middling success, to learn both Italian and the Irish tin whistle.

Note: No email submissions accepted.

The chapbook will be professionally printed with full color covers and perfect bound, unlike the typical saddle stitched (stapled) chapbook. The winning poet will receive $250 and 20 copies of the chapbook. Additional copies may be purchased at 40% off list price. A formal contract will be made available.

Mail submissions to:
Split Oak Press
Chapbook Contest – 2009
James R. Stafford – Editor and Publisher
P.O. Box 700
Vestal, NY 13851