www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/poetryguide.html

The University of Wisconsin Press awards the Brittingham Prize in Poetry and the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry. Each winning poet will receive $2,500 ($1,000 cash prize and $1,500 honorarium to cover expenses of reading in Madison). Prizes are awarded annually to the two best book-length manuscripts of original poetry submitted in an open competition. Each manuscript submitted will be considered for both prizes. There are no restrictions on the kind of poetry or subject matter, although translations are not acceptable. The winners will be announced and the prizes awarded in February of each calendar year, with publishing contracts to follow soon thereafter.

Submission Guidelines

SUBMISSION PERIOD:
Manuscripts received September 1 through October 1 each calendar year will be considered. Manuscripts postmarked before September 1 or after September 30 will be returned unread.

MANUSCRIPT FORMAT:

All submissions must be unbound (no binders, clamps, etc., please), typed on 8 1/2 x 11 paper, and should be 50–80 manuscript pages in length.

Manuscripts may be typed single-spaced with a double space in between stanzas, or may be double-spaced.

Clean photocopies are acceptable.

Poet’s name, address, and telephone number should appear on the title page.

The manuscript must be previously unpublished in book form. Poems published in journals, chapbooks, and anthologies may be included but must be acknowledged.

No changes in the manuscript will be considered between submission and acceptance.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

A $25.00 non-refundable reading fee must accompany each manuscript, and covers entry to both prizes. Please make check or money order payable to “The University of Wisconsin Press.” Do not send cash or stamps. Foreign entries: please remit reading fee in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank.

Manuscripts will not be returned. Please do not enclose return packaging.

For contest results, enclose a stamped, self-addressed business envelope (no postcards, please).

First Class or Priority Mail is preferred. It is not necessary to send your manuscript via a Federal Express service.

Simultaneous submissions to other contests are permitted provided the poet agrees to inform the Press of the manuscript’s acceptance for publication elsewhere.

SELECTION PROCEDURE:

Qualified readers appointed by the Press will screen all manuscripts. The final selections will be made by a distinguished poet who will remain anonymous until the winner is announced in mid-February.

SEND CORRESPONDENCE AND MANUSCRIPTS TO:

Brittingham and Pollak Poetry Prizes
c/o Ronald Wallace, UW Press Poetry Series Editor
Department of English
600 N. Park Street
University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI 53706

E-mail: rwallace@wisc.edu