Opening date for submissions: Feb. 23, 2024

Deadline: May 31, 2024

Fee: $10

The prize: The winning author will receive book publication, 10 author copies, 60% of money received from online sales of the book, and support from local bookstores. The winning author will also have a book release party at Commonhouse Aleworks on October 19 from 2-4pm.

Specifications: Manuscripts should be between 30 and 90 numbered pages including a Title Page and a Table of Contents. Submissions should only be sent as a Word or Pages document. Please do not send a photo or a PDF. Do not include any illustrations or graphics, and no translations. By submitting a manuscript to this contest, all authors attest that the work is their own.

Submission: Manuscripts should be submitted anonymously with ONLY the title on the first page. Be sure to include a separate cover letter with the title of your manuscript, your name, and your contact information in the appropriate spot on the submission form. If you decide to include a list of acknowledgements, please include them in your cover letter, NOT with the manuscript. All manuscripts must be submitted electronically through the form below. Manuscripts submitted by email or third parties will not be eligible.

The judges: Marcus Amaker, the first Poet Laureate of Charleston, and Linda Joy Walder, author of Running Naked in the Snow

Publication date: October 2024. The winning volume will be published by Free Verse Press.

Eligibility: We strongly encourage writers of color. The submission is open to all poets (of any age, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation) in the Charleston area for a previously unpublished book of poetry. (Chapbooks don’t count as a previous work. Self published books do.) Only poets who live in the Lowcountry (Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties) are eligible to submit a manuscript.