Nominate

In early March, we will email links to eligible writing programs and magazines for them to make nominations. U.S. and Canadian writing programs can nominate two poets each (though the poets themselves can be international students). Magazines can nominate two poems from their recent publications. Please see our eligibility rules on the poets you can nominate. We have a page that shows which programs and magazines have already made a nomination this year, and those we have sent a nomination link, here.

Eligible programs must be state-accredited, graduate-level writing programs/departments that offer an MFA, MA, or PhD degree in creative writing or poetry writing (or offer a graduate English degree with a concentration in creative writing or poetry writing) in the US or Canada. Schools that offer multiple graduate poetry degrees should nominate only two poets total. We're sorry, but writer retreats and post-MFA/PhD fellowships can no longer nominate their students or residents. We know you support new poets too, but we need to make this change to keep our eligibility rules as concise as we can.

In this day of internet journals, ePub, and print-on-demand, defining exactly what makes a magazine eligible can be difficult. But you probably know what we are after: a US or Canadian print or online journal that publishes at least once a year and whose published poems are generally not by the people who run the journal itself. When a magazine nominates poems, it may not nominate poems by people on its masthead or its former staff. Undergraduate literary journals are not eligible to make nominations. Other books and anthologies are not eligible to make nominations. If you are not sure if your magazine qualifies, write us.