Mid-June Poetry Chapbook Contest
Dead Man Publishing is looking for astonishing works of innovative writing. We want to give poets, especially emerging and unknown writers, a place where their unique voices and challenging experiments are valued. We want to hear you! Mid-June Chaps is our way of reaching out to you to give your book a place in the world. The contest extends the work of the Mid-June journal we once published, giving writers a place to showcase their experiments and shining a light on their art.
To get an idea of what we are looking for, read our Editor Interview at Duotrope. Our Open Call submission guidelines at Duosuma will also be helpful. And if you want to see or hear what we’ve done before, you can find several free options in our Catalog. To put it briefly, though, we want small STRANGE Books. Astonish us.
The Mid-June Poetry Chapbook Award is given annually for a previously unpublished original collection of poetry. Manuscript submissions are accepted January 1 to May 15, and the winner will be announced in June. Along with the winning manuscript, we will announce two runners-up. The winner and runners-up will receive a cash prize as well as publication of their manuscripts and 35 copies of their book. If we sell over 100 copies of your work, we will begin paying you a contracted share of the profits for each sale plus additional free copies.
Award Details:
Winner $500
First Runner-Up $150
Second Runner-Up $100
Book publication by Dead Man Publishing
Judge: Micah Anthony Cavaleri
Submissions Open: January 1st
Submissions Close: May 15th
Entry Fee: $10
Note: Do not include any identifying information about yourself within the submitted manuscript. Only do so in your cover letter. Manuscripts should be 25-60 pages long.
How To Submit: We now use Duosuma, the submission manager from Duotrope. Please head to Duotrope to set up a free account. (They are an excellent service, providing writers with the details for thousands of publishers and journals and literary agents.) You can find the Duosuma submission manager at the link provided here. Be sure to include a cover letter describing the project and a brief bio. Also, in your cover letter include a list of when and where any selections from your manuscript have already been published. PRIOR PUBLICATION IS NOT NECESSARY FOR CONSIDERATION. The manuscript as a whole must be unpublished and should not be submitted for publication elsewhere.