The Fourth Annual Camber Press Poetry Chapbook Award
Submissions
Camber Press is pleased to announce the return of our poetry chapbook
award. Our ethos is to publish contemporary poetry exhibiting lucid
delivery while not sacrificing emotional depth, mastery of craft, or
originality.
The Fourth Annual Camber Press
Poetry Chapbook Award
Deadline:
August 15, 2008
First Prize:
$1,000 and publication of chapbook
Judge:
Steve Orlen
Submission guidelines:
The
winning poet will receive $1,000 and have his or her manuscript
published by Camber Press, Inc. Only typed manuscripts no greater than
24 pages of original English-language poems will be considered.
Manuscripts must include a cover page listing the author's name,
address, phone number, e-mail address, and manuscript title. Names
should not appear anywhere else. A title page with no biographical
information and a table of contents should follow. Simultaneous
submissions are allowed if Camber Press is immediately notified of
acceptance elsewhere. Submissions will be recycled, not returned.
Include a self-addressed, stamped postcard if you wish acknowledgment
of receipt. A $15 entry fee payable to Camber Press must accompany all submissions. International submissions are $15 provided they are in US funds on a US bank. Submissions must be postmarked no later than August 15, 2008.
The winner will be announced no later than November 1, 2008, on the
Camber Press Web site. Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope if
you wish to receive a print announcement of the winner. E-mail us for more information. Send entries to:
Poetry Contest
Camber Press
1160 Midland Avenue
Suite 3F
Bronxville, NY 10708
Other details:
- If
some or all poems in your manuscript have been previously published in
literary journals or reviews, please include this information in an
acknowledgments page. Any manuscript previously published as a whole in
book form is not eligible. - Multiple manuscripts by the same writer will be accepted if submitted with a corresponding entry fee for each work.
- If the poet's name is present anywhere on the manuscript aside from the cover page, the entry will be disqualified.
- If the poet needs to refer to his/herself during the poem, a pseudonym must be used.
- Please do not send corrections or additions. The winner will be allowed to make revisions before publication.
- Submissions postmarked after August 15, 2008 will not be considered for the contest.
- Total
manuscript pages do not translate to an equal number of book pages.
Line length, stanza breaks, book sections, type size, margins, and
other factors affect the number of pages a finished book will be. If
unsure how many pages your book will be or if your manuscript is too
long, visit your local library. Look at Camber Press titles
and poetry chapbooks from other publishers. By comparing these with
your own poems, you can estimate the approximate book length of your
manuscript. - Covers, tables of contents, dedication pages, acknowledgements pages, etc., do not count toward the total of 24 pages.
- "No
greater than 24 pages" does not mean your manuscript need be 24 pages.
To date, no poet submitting 24 pages has won the Camber Press Poetry
Chapbook Award. Please think of your best poems first, manuscript flow
second, and "24 pages," if ever, last. - If you wish to bind your
manuscript(s), please use a paperclip. Folders, binders, "bullnose"
clips, and staples are strongly discouraged. - Please do not send your manuscript via
a carrier requiring a signature for delivery. Not only is this is an
unnecessary expense for writers, we find the USPS does a more than adequate job of delivering to our location. - Submissions will be recycled, not returned. Do not send a return envelope or return postage. Never send your only copy of your manuscript anywhere.
- To be advised of future Camber Press news, please join our e-mail newsletter list. Camber Press will not
sell, trade, or distribute your e-mail address to any other company,
organization, or individual. We don't like spam, either. An e-mail to the same address will remove you from our future mailings.
Steve Orlen
teaches in the MFA Program at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and
in the low-residency MFA Program at Warren Wilson College. He's
published six books of poetry. The most recent is The Elephant's Child: New & Selected Poems 1978-2005,
published by Ausable Press. He's received three NEA Grants, a
fellowship from the Solomon Guggenheim Foundation, as well as the
George Dillon Memorial Award from Poetry Magazine. His other titles include Kisses, This Particular Eternity, Bridge of Sighs, A Place at the Table, and Separate Creatures.
A PDF of the above submission guidelines is available here.
Last year, Stephen Dobyns chose Karen Zealand's The Sniper and the Spotter in a blind submission similar to the above guidelines. It will be available shortly.
Camber
Press is thoroughly devoted to maintaining the integrity of our
competitions. Judges are directed to discard any manuscript where the
writer of the work can be identified, where they have had a personal
relationship with the poet, or if they have contributed in the making
of the manuscript.
Camber Press does not choose
writers or judges based on race, sex, color, religion, age, national
origin, physical ability/handicap, political affiliation, sexual
orientation, gender identity or geographic location. Manuscripts are
chosen for publication based solely upon quality of work. Judges are
chosen because we like their writings and because they are willing to
support small presses and independent bookstores.
We
thank you for your interest in submitting your work. Camber Press looks
forward to publishing new, talented writers for the rest of the world
to discover along with us. At this time we have several other
manuscripts in production for publication, and we are not
accepting unsolicited manuscripts outside this competition. Watch our
Web site for announcements on the winning manuscript and forthcoming
awards in both poetry and fiction.



