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Contests
Each year, Boston Review runs competitions in poetry and fiction. We also partner with the Unterberg Poetry Center/92nd Street Y to publish the winner of the annual “Discovery”/Boston Review poetry contest.
We strongly encourage online submissions for our poetry and short story contests, with payment via credit card. Contestants also may submit entries via postal mail but will not receive acknowledgement of successful submission. Email submissions are not accepted. All contest entry payments are non-refundable and previously published work may not be submitted to any contest. All winners are announced publicly and informed prior to that announcement. Please do not contact us to ask whether you have won a contest or when the winner will be announced.
Aura Estrada Short Story Contest (Deadline: October 1, 2015)
“Discovery”/Boston Review 2015 Poetry Contest, with the Unterberg Poetry Center/92nd Street Y
Eighteenth Annual Poetry Contest (Deadline: June 1, 2015)
Complete instructions for submission to all contests follow.
Deadline: June 1, 2015
Judge: Cathy Park Hong
First Prize: $1,500 and publication
Complete guidelines:
The winning poet will receive $1,500 and have his or her work published in the November/December 2015 issue of Boston Review. Submit up to five unpublished poems, no more than 10 pages total. Any poet writing in English is eligible, unless he or she is a current student, former student, relative, or close friend of the judge. Mailed manuscripts must be submitted in duplicate, with a cover note listing the author’s name, address, email, and phone number. No cover note is necessary for online submissions. Names and other identifying information must not be on the poems themselves. Simultaneous submissions are not permitted, submissions will not be returned, and submissions may not be modified after entry. Failure to comply with any contest guidelines may result in your submission being disqualified. A non-refundable $20 entry fee, payable to Boston Review in the form of a check or money order or by credit card, must accompany all submissions. All submitters receive a complimentary half-year subscription (3 issues) to Boston Review. Mailed submissions must be postmarked no later than June 1, 2015.
The winner will be announced in the fall on the Boston Review Web site. All poems submitted to the contest will be considered for publication in Boston Review.
Please enter online using our contest entry manager. This requires payment using a credit card.
Or mail submissions to:
Poetry Contest, Boston Review
PO Box 425786
Cambridge, MA 02142
Read winning poems from past years:
francine j. harris (2014)
Scott Coffel (2013)
Sarah Crossland (2012)
Heather Tone (2011)
Anthony Caleshu (2010)
John Gallaher (2009)
Sarah Arvio (2008)
Elizabeth Willis (2007)
Marc Gaba (2006)
Mike Perrow (2005)
Michael Tod Edgerton (2004)
Susan Wheeler (2003)
Max Winter (2002)
D. A. Powell (2001)
Christopher Edgar (2000)
Stephanie Strickland (1999)
Daniel Bosch (1998)
For more poetry in Boston Review, click here.
“Discovery” / Boston Review 2015 Poetry Contest
**Deadline: January 23, 2015 at noon
Preliminary Judges: Timothy Donnelly and Camille Rankine
Final Judges: Peter Gizzi, Susan Stewart, Atsuro Riley
Four Prizes: $500
Note: Submissions will be accepted by the 92nd Street Y only. Questions should be directed to the 92nd Street Y, [email protected]
"Discovery" Poetry Contest is designed to attract large audiences to poets who have not yet published a book. For the seventh year, the 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center is proud to partner with Boston Review. Each of four winners is awarded a reading at the Poetry Center (scheduled for May 4, 2015, 8:15 pm), publication in the May/June issue of BR, and $500.
Many winners of this contest have gone on to distinguished careers as poets, among them John Ashbery, Rosanna Warren, Mary Jo Bang, and Mark Strand.
Read winning poems from 2013 and 2014.
The contest is open to poets who have not published a full-length poetry collection. Poets who have published chapbooks of less than 42 pages or in editions of less than 500 are still eligible to apply. Entries must be received by January 23, 2015. An entry fee of $12 must accompany the submission. For guidelines, and to submit, visit 92y.org/Discovery.
Mail submissions to:
“Discovery”/ Boston Review 2015 Poetry Contest
Unterberg Poetry Center
92nd Street Y
1395 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10128
Aura Estrada Short Story Contest
Deadline: October 1, 2015
Judge: Ruth Ozeki
Prize: $1,500
Aura Estrada (1977–2007), was a promising young Mexican writer and student, and the wife of Francisco Goldman. This prize is meant to honor her memory by supporting other burgeoning writers. Aura's writing, and more about her life, can be found here.
Complete guidelines:
The winning author will receive $1,500 and have his or her work published in the July/August 2016 issue of Boston Review. Runners up may also be published. Stories should not exceed 5,000 words and must be previously unpublished. Mailed manuscripts should be double-spaced and submitted with a cover note listing the author’s name, address, and phone number. No cover note is necessary for online submission. Names should not appear on the stories themselves. Any author writing in English is eligible, unless he or she is a current student, former student, relative, or close friend of the judge. Simultaneous submissions are not permitted, submissions will not be returned, and submissions may not be modified after entry. A non-refundable $20 entry fee, payable to Boston Review in the form of a check or money order or by credit card, must accompany each story entered. All submitters receive a complimentary half-year subscription (3 issues) to Boston Review. Submissions must be postmarked no later than October 1, 2015. The winner will be notified in the spring of 2016 and publicly announced by July on the Boston Review Web site.
Please enter online using our contest entry manager. This requires payment using a credit card.
Or mail submissions to:
Short Story Contest, Boston Review
PO Box 425786
Cambridge, MA 02142
Read winning stories from past years:
Leslee Becker's Severance (2014)
Kerry-Lee Powell’s There Are Two Pools You May Drink From (2013)
Alexandra Thom’s The Piano (2012)
Kalpana Narayanan’s Aviator on the Prowl (2011)
Adam Sturtevant’s How Do I explain? (2010)
Jessica Treglia’s Canceled (2009)
Patricia Engel’s Desaliento (2008)
Padma Viswanathan’s Transitory Cities (2007)
Tiphanie Yanique’s How to Escape from a Leper Colony (2006)
Lisa Chipongian’s Intramuros (2005)
D.S. Sulaitis’s If It’s Anywhere, It’s Behind Us (2004)
Gale Renee Walden’s Men I Don’t Talk to Anymore (2003)
Manini Nayar’s Home Fires (2002)
Kate Small’s One Night a Year (2001)
Girija Tropp’s The Pretty Ones Have Their Uses (2001)
Pauls Toutonghi’s Regeneration (2000)
Jacob M. Appel’s Shell Game with Organs (1999)
Kris Saknussemm’s Unpracticed Fingers Bungle Sadly Over Tiny Feathered Bodies (1998)
Kiki Delancey’s Jules Jr Michael Jules Jr (1997)
Mary Ann Jannazo’s No Runs, No Hits, No One Left on Base (1996)
Tom Paine’s The Milkman & I (1995)
Michael Dorris’s Layaway (1994)
For more fiction in Boston Review, click here.