Main Street Rag’s Annual Chapbook Contest
www.mainstreetrag.com
(go to website for details regarding online submissions)
2007 Guidelines

Deadline: May 31, 2007.
Reading Fee: $15

Winner receives $500 and 50 copies of chapbook. ***Top two runners up will also be awarded $100.*** All entries receive a copy of the winning manuscript and are considered for publication.

Runners-up will also be offered publication and every manuscript entered will be considered for publication.

Send between 24 and 32 pages of poetry, any style/form, no more than one poem per page and no smaller than 10pt type of an easily readable font like Arial or Times New Roman.

Do Not Include Dedication and/or Credits/Acknowledgements Pages in entry. For the purpose of fairness, it is important that judges know as little about the author as possible and these pages are not relevant to the judging process. If they should accidentally slip through the registration area, first round readers are instructed to disqualify manuscripts that arrive with credits, acknowledgements, or author’s name on them.

Include cover sheet with author’s contact information– name, address, phone number, and email (if applicable). Name should not appear anywhere else in the manuscript.

* * * Publishing credits/acknowledgements are irrelevent to the process of judging, so please do not include them. Disregarding this guideline can get you disqualified (and we’ll still keep your check). * * *

No manuscripts will be returned.

For notification of receipt, entries can include a post card, but if they include an email address, we will send a verification of receipt via email. Entries should include an SASE for
winner notification ONLY if they do not choose to be notified by email.

Do not send anything USPS Return Receipt or Signature Receipt–we won’t stand in line for
these items and they will eventually be returned to you (when the Postal Service gets tired of putting cards in our box). If you need confirmation that we received it, include a reliable email address or a stamped return post card.

*Although MSR frowns on simultaneous submissions for our magazine, it is acceptable for our book contests. Upon notification, however, winner must immediately withdraw his/her mss from consideration elsewhere (or from the MSR Chapbook Contest–if the manuscript has been chosen winner in another contest).

All checks should be made payable to:
Main Street Rag
PO BOX 690100
Charlotte, NC 28227-7001

MSR will accept entries via email, BUT only until May 10. Contact Main Street Rag for instructions before sending any manuscript via email. Online submission is $17.

Mailing Instructions:

All checks should be made payable to:
Main Street Rag
PO BOX 690100
Charlotte, NC 28227-7001

We recommend using US Postal Service Media Mail (within the US), but that takes longer to arrive, so DO NOT send it Media Mail if you are mailing it on or near the deadline. Why? because we distribute the LAST manuscripts to first round readers on June 8. Anything that has not arrived by the day before (June 7) will be excluded and the check returned in the SASE (if one has been provided–otherwise, it will be shredded).

DO NOT use clips or binding of any kind. We have THOUSANDS of clips here from years of submissions and we remove anything that comes in a binder and throw away the binder. If you want to pay for a binder and the shipping to get it here only to have it thrown away, that’s your choice. It will not go to any readers in a binder of any kind.

DO NOT send anything that must be signed for (Signature Receipt or Express Mail) since it
means having to stand in line to receive it (and we won’t).