Akron Poetry Prize

Information

The Akron Series in Poetry was founded to bring to the public writers who speak in original and compelling voices. Each year, The University of Akron Press offers the Akron Poetry Prize, a competition open to all poets writing in English. The winning poet receives $1,500 and publication of his or her book. The final selection will be made by a nationally prominent poet. The final judge for 2013 is David Kirby. Other manuscripts may also be considered for publication in the series.

Guidelines for Submission

1. Manuscripts must be typed and consecutively numbered, for a total length of at least 48 pages. Clear photocopies are acceptable. Please, do not send manuscripts bound or enclosed in covers. Individual poems may have appeared in chapbooks or literary magazines, but we are unable to consider collections that have been previously published as a full-length volume.

2. Manuscripts must include a cover page (with author's name, address, phone number, and manuscript title), a title page (with no biographical information), and an acknowledgements page listing poems previously published in periodicals (if applicable). Please do not submit manuscripts that have the author's name on each page. Manuscripts go to the final judge blind.

3. Manuscripts must be postmarked between April 15 and June 15 of each year. Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but The University of Akron Press must be notified immediately if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere.

4. An entry fee of $25 is required for each manuscript submission. Make check or money order payable to The University of Akron Press. The canceled check will serve as notification of receipt.

5. Contest results will be posted on our website www.uakron.edu/uapress/poetryprizewinner by September 30. No manuscripts can be returned.

6. Books accepted for the Akron Series in Poetry must exhibit three essential qualities: mastery of language, maturity of feeling, and complexity of thought. The University of Akron Press is committed to publishing poetry that, as Robert Frost said, "begins in delight and ends in wisdom." Intimate friends, relatives, current and former students of the final judge (students in an academic, degree-conferring program or its equivalent) are not eligible to enter the Akron Poetry Prize competition.

Send manuscripts to:

The Akron Poetry Prize
The University of Akron Press
120 E. Mill Street, Suite 415
Akron, OH 44308

2013 Final Judge

David Kirby is the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of English at Florida State University. A Johns Hopkins PhD, he has received many honors for his work, including fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and his work appears regularly in the Best American Poetry and Pushcart Prize volumes. Kirby is the author of numerous books, including The House on Boulevard St.: New and Selected Poems, which was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Award in poetry. His Little Richard: The Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll was named one of Booklist’s Top 10 Black History Non-Fiction Books of 2010, and the Times Literary Supplement called it “a hymn of praise to the emancipatory power of nonsense.” Kirby’s latest poetry collection is Talking About Movies With Jesus.