David St. John, Judge

First Prize: $250

Winner and Finalists will be invited to participate in an awards ceremony, reading, and reception at the dA Center for the Arts. The prize does not include publication.

Contest Rules

Postmark deadline: April 30, 2009

Entry fee $15.00 for up to six pages of unpublished poetry (multiple entries are permitted.)

Manuscripts must be typed. No more than one poem per page.

Author’s name, address, and phone number (and email address, if available) must appear on cover sheet only. Please include poem titles in addition to contact information. No names on poems, please.

Simultaneous submission is permissible if we are notified when work is accepted elsewhere or awards received.

For announcement of winners, include a SASE (self addressed, stamped envelope).

Please, no email or fax submissions.

Entries are screened and judged anonymously. Poems with which the judge has had prior contact are ineligible.

Poems must not have received monetary awards or previous publication.

Entries must adhere to all guidelines. Manuscripts will not be returned.

David St. John was born in Fresno, California, in 1949, and educated at California State University, Fresno, where he received his B.A. In 1974, he received an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. He is the author of six books of poetry, including Prism (Arctos Press, 2002), Study for the World’s Body: New and Selected Poems (1994), No Heaven (1985), and Hush (1976). His awards include the Discover/The Nation prize, the James D. Phelan Prize, and the Prix de Rome fellowship in literature. He has also received several National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and a Guggenheim Fellowship. St. John currently teaches in the English Department at University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Submit poetry and check or money order (no cash) with submission:

Poetry Contest: dA Center for the Arts, 252-D South Main St. Pomona, CA 91766-1630 Phone: 909.397.9716 (www.dacenter.org)