ABOUT THE 9th Annual A. POULIN, JR. POETRY PRIZE

The A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize is awarded to honor a poet's first book, while also honoring the late founder of BOA Editions, Ltd., a not-for-profit publishing house of poetry and poetry in translation. [Get the entry form]

FINAL JUDGE: Tony Hoagland Click [Here] for the judge's bio.

WINNER RECEIVES:

A $1,500 Honorarium, paid in March 2010, and book publication by BOA Editions, Ltd. in March, 2011, in The A. Poulin, Jr. New Poets of America Series.

ELIGIBILITY:

• Entrants must be a citizen or legal resident of the United States.
• Poets, who are at least 18 years of age, who have yet to publish a full-length-book collection of poetry.
• Translations are not eligible.
• Individual poems from the manuscript may have been published previously in magazines, journals, anthologies, chapbooks of 32 pages or less, or self-published books of 46 pages or less, but must be submitted in manuscript form. Published books in other genres do not disqualify contestants from entering this contest.
• Employees, volunteers and board members of BOA Editions, Ltd., or their partners or spouses, or their immediate families, or immediate family of the judge are not eligible.
• As per the Publishing Contest Ethics, as advanced by the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP), any person who has studied poetry in a formal program with the Final Judge -- through a college, university, community program, residency, or private tutorial, within the last two years -- is not eligible to submit a manuscript to this contest.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES REQUIREMENTS:

Send one copy of the manuscript, our entry form, and the $25 entry fee, to BOA Editions, Ltd., between August 1, and November 30, 2009, at the address listed below. Make check or money orders payable to BOA Editions. Do not pay by credit card.

MANUSCRIPT FORMAT:

• Minimum of 48 pages, maximum of 100 pages of poetry.
• Manuscript should be 1 1/2 or double spaced.
• At least 11pt. font.
• Name address and telephone number must appear on the title or cover page of the manuscript.
• Do not send artwork or photographs.
• Typed or word-processed on standard white paper, on one side of the page only.
• Paginated consecutively with a table of contents.
• Bound with a spring clip (no paperclips, please).
• Attach publications acknowledgments if any.
• Include a stamped, self-addressed postcard for notification of receipt of manuscript.
• Do not send by FedEx or UPS.
• Electronic and fax submissions will not be accepted.
• Neither late nor early manuscripts will be accepted.
• Contestants may submit the manuscript elsewhere simultaneously, but must notify BOA Editions immediately, by mail in an envelope, (not a postcard or email), if a manuscript is accepted by another publisher.
• Once submitted, manuscripts cannot be altered. Winner will be given the opportunity to revise before publication.
• Contestants may submit more than one manuscript, but a separate entry fee and entry form must accompany each manuscript.
• Manuscripts mailed from foreign countries risk not being received before final selections have been made.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES SUGGESTED:

• Send manuscript in a plain or padded envelope. Please no boxes.
• For notification of competition results, include a business-size SASE.
• Keep a copy of your manuscript, as manuscripts will not be returned.
• We advise that you send your manuscript by first class or priority mail.

ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

• The winner will be announced in March 2010.
• Honorarium will be awarded within two weeks of a signed contract between the winner and BOA Editions..
• Winning manuscript will be published in March 2011, in an original paperback edition in the [A. Poulin, Jr. New Poets of America Series].
• The winner will retain full copyright of his or her work.
• The paper from all manuscripts will be recycled after the winner is announced.
• BOA Editions assumes no responsibility for loss of manuscripts.

Send manuscripts, postmarked between August 1, and November 30, 2009, to:

BOA Editions, Ltd.
PO Box 30971
Rochester, NY 14603