Hidden River Arts offers a prize of $1000 and publication with Hidden River Press, an imprint of Hidden River Publishing, for an unpublished book-length collection of poetry. The editors will judge. Using the online submission system, submit a poetry manuscript of approximately 75 to 100 pages with a $20 entry fee. Submissions open March 15, 2025, and the deadline is June 30, 2025.
Individual poems included in the submission may have been published, as long as all rights have reverted to the poet. Please provide a full list of publications: titles, where published, date of publication, and confirmation of your rights.
We encourage international submissions. All submissions must be in English. We do accept your work in translation. But a translation MUST BE submitted by the poet (not the translator), with full information about the translator and the submissions must also include the work in the original language. This is a writing award, NOT a translation award.
We allow simultaneous submissions and request only that, should your work be accepted elsewhere for publication, you notify us immediately. We also accept simultaneous submissions, but each much be submitted separately.
Please include an introductory statement about your collection (approximately TWO paragraphs) where you discuss the themes, subject exploration, and the ways in which the poems in this collection coalesce to create a larger, overarching, work. This serves as a synopsis of the collection. Entries without this requested synopsis will be immediately discarded.
Manuscripts should include, in this order, the introductory statement, title page, table of contents, and when appropriate, an acknowledgments page. You must also include a certification of authenticity (see below), which states that all work in the submission is yours alone, original and non-AI generated. Manuscripts should be paginated and formatted in an easy-to-read font . If your poetry has special formatting, please be sure that you upload the manuscript as a PDF. Please be sure that your cover letter includes full contact information, and include a brief bio and something about yourself that would not be included in a resume.
Please note that NO Artificial Intelligence of any kind can be used in the creation of the poems in your collection. You must certify* that all the work submitted is written by you, original to you, and in no way has AI been used for the creation of the collection.
All decisions are made by the Hidden River Staff and are final. We reserve the right to withhold the prize on any given year should our staff decide that no manuscripts meet the winning criteria, or if the number of submissions falls below the minimum required by our by-laws.
Questions? Please email hiddenriverarts@gmail.com, or see our blog at https://hiddenriverarts.wordpress.com/awards-deadlines-and-guidelines/willow-run-poetry-book-award/T
* The certification we request regarding your assurance that no AI has been used in your materials can be a simple statement: "I assert, declare and certify that the work submitted herein contains no AI assistance or support. The work is entirely and exclusively my own, original creation." You can include an electronic signature or simply type your full name and date.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Our announcements of semi-finalists, finalists and winner will be posted on our blog site. Please be sure to follow the blog so that you'll be notified of all updates. (http://hiddenriverarts.wordpress.com)
This is a "first book" award for an unpublished book-length work of fiction - novel, short stories, novel-in-stories, no length limit, by a woman writer, age 40 or older. Include a synopsis of the entire book*, an outline, and the complete manuscript, IN THAT ORDER. Also include a bio and resume, and a contact sheet including name, address, email, telephone, birthdate. Also, you should include certification of original work, no AI included (see below) Submissions that do not have all required materials will be discarded unread. All required materials must be included in ONE document. Submittable does not permit multiple uploads. Please note: manuscripts that have been self-published are considered published, and are not eligible. Publication in other genres besides fiction do not disqualify your entry.
*If you are submitted a collection of stories, please include 2-3 sentence descriptions of each story.
NO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE can be used to create this work. You must include, with your submission materials, a statement certifying that the work is entirely original, and that no AI has been used in any way.
Reading Fee: $20.00 Submission window opens January 20, 2025 and closes April 1, 2025.
Winning manuscript receives $1,000 and publication on the Sowilo Press imprint of Hidden River Publishing.
Announcements of our semi-finalists, finalists and winner are made at our blog: http://hiddenriverarts.wordpress.com -- Please be sure to follow us there to receive notification of all our posts and updates.
All decisions regarding the winning manuscript will be made by our staff, and the decisions are final. We reserve the right to withhold the prize on any given year should our staff decide that no manuscripts meet the winning criteria, or should the number of submissions fall below the number required by our by-laws.
For all additional information, including the names of our previous winners, please see the guidelines on our blog at:
https://hiddenriverarts.wordpress.com/awards-deadlines-and-guidelines/eludia-guidelines/
Hidden River Publishing has several imprints: Hidden River Press, Sowilo Press, Defarge, and Many Frog. Please see complete information about our imprints at our website at www.hiddenriverarts.com to familiarize yourself with our categories. If you are interested in submitting a manuscript, please query us first with a full synopsis of your manuscript, an outline, the first ten pages, a bio, publication record, your website and contact information. In your subject line please put FICTION or NONFICTION and which imprint you are submitting to. If we are interested, we will contact you with a request for the whole manuscript. Please do NOT send an entire manuscript unless it is requested.
There is a $3 submission fee that helps us to maintain our Submittable platform.