Editors' Prize Contest

SRPR Editors' Prize Contest: $1,000

Submissions Open: December 1
Deadline: April 15

One winning poem will be awarded $1,000, two runners-up will be awarded $100 each, and 3-5 honorable mentions will be selected. All winning poems, honorable mentions, and several finalists are published in the winter issue of SRPR. Moreover, the contest winner will be invited to read his/her winning poem at the annual SRPR Lucia Getsi Poetry Reading Bloomington-Normal, IL.

Finalists are read by a prominent outside judge, who also writes an introduction to the winning poem. Recent judges include Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, Jonah Mixon-Webster, GC Waldrep, Rachel Zucker, Joshua Corey, Juliana Spahr, David Baker, C.S. Giscombe and Jeanne Marie Beaumont. Judges are announced after winners are selected.

Entry Fee: Our entry fee of $25 includes a one-year subscription to SRPR (two issues). If you already subscribe, then we will extend your subscription. International contestants will receive PDF versions of SRPR.

Guidelines:

We accept simultaneous submissions. To withdraw a specific poem or the entire submission notify us by email at contact[AT]srpr[DOT]org.

Please visit Submittable for the Editors' Prize Contest. You will find full guidelines on the submission page.

SRPR Editors' Prize 2024 Contest Results

Congratulations to the winners of this year's SRPR Editors' Prize Contest, selected by Lillian-Yvonne Bertram!

Thanks to everyone who entered; it was our pleasure to read such a wide variety of truly excellent poems.

Ali Beheler, our first-place winner, will receive $1000, an introduction written by Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, and an invitation to read at SRPR's annual Lucia Getsi Reading Series, to be held in Bloomington, Illinois, in April 2025.

Stay tuned for the publication of these poems, along with several finalists, in our Winter 2024 issue, due out in mid-December:

Winner:
Ali Beheler, “Everything Is Prep Work” ($1000)

Runners-Up:
Ann Pedone, “from: The Greenland” ($100)
Paul Cunningham, “Plot, or Entrance to a Red Oak” ($100)

Honorable Mention:
Ellie Black, “Uncanny Valley”
Angie Minkin, “Angie Minkin”
Robert Shoemaker, “Hex on Elon Musk as a Portrait of Humanity”

Past Contest Winners

A detailed list of past winners, runners up and honorable mentions are available here.

48.2 Marissa Davis, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Dead Fish," chosen by Jonah Mixon-Webster

47.2 Meghan Malachi, "We Moved Out of the Projects and into a Home," chosen by Ashley M. Jones

46.2 Dean Gessie, "diary of a dead eel boy," chosen by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

45.2 David Groff, "Disbelieving These Deaths, I Go to Sit by Lake Hebron," chosen by Austin Smith

44.2 Mirande Bissell, "The Mammoth Steppe," chosen by Rachel Webster

43.2 Mark Svenvold, "Immigration Algorithm (Application Form D (3) b (1) a)," chosen by Li-Young Lee

42.2 Kelly Michels, "Elegy for the Poppy," chosen by Ewa Chrusciel

41.2 Nancy Hewitt, "The Secret of White," chosen by GC Waldrep

40.2 Julie Marie Wade, "Source Amnesia," chosen by Rachel Zucker

39.2 Emma Bolden, "It was no more predictable," chosen by Joshua Corey

38.2 Jesse Nissim, "Fire," chosen by Juliana Spahr

37.2 William Stobb, "A Moment for Authentic Shine," chosen by David Baker

36.2 Jennie Ray, "Chapter VII: When You Stand in Front of the Coffeed Moths," chosen by C.S. Giscombe

35.2 Nancy Pearson, "Abrams Creek," chosen by Jeanne Marie Beaumont