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The Plaza Prose Poetry Prize

Carrie Etter

The Plaza Prose Poetry Prize

Judged by Carrie Etter

1st prize: £500. 2nd prize: £200. 3rd prize: £50

450 words max.

In our inaugural year, we took a big chance running a Prose Poetry contest. We ended up getting enough a surprising number of entries. It seems a lot of poets are experimenting with this exciting hybrid form, and we want to spotlight their work this year again. So please send us your prose poems, 450 words max.

Our judge, Carrie Etter, is an American poet, living in the UK. She has published four collections of poetry, and her fifth, Grief’s Alphabet, will be published by Seren Books in April 2024. Her collection featuring prose poetry, Imagined Sons (Seren, 2014), was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry, and individual prose poems have appeared in The Penguin Book of the Prose Poem, Poetry Review, The Rialto, Shenandoah (US), Westerly (AUS), and many other journals and anthologies.

Carrie is a member of the creative writing faculty at the University of Bristol. She teaches specialist courses on Prose Poetry. She also writes short stories and judged The Plaza Microfiction Prize (300 words).

To be long listed (final 20) for The Plaza Prose Poetry Prize looks great on any writer’s CV. To be shortlisted in the Top 10, will get you published in our inaugural anthology. To win, or place second or third, is a validation of your skills that might just get your own collection published in future.

'I am looking for thrilling experiments with the prose poem form.'

Carrie Etter

The Prizes

First Prize: £750

Second Prize: £200

Third Place: £50

Top 10

The 10 shortlisted prose poems will also be published in The Plaza Prizes Anthology 2, which will be launched at our awards ceremony, October 2024.

Terms and Conditions

Rules

Rules

  • Deadline: 31st March 2024
  • Writers can enter any number of times. (£11.00. Subsequent entry: £5.50)
  • Prose poems can be in any style or form, but must be in English, and written for adults.
  • Entries must be submitted online. No email submissions. In exceptional circumstances, postal entry may be accepted, as long as a cheque made out for the correct entry fee is sent to The Plaza Prizes Ltd. (Postal address is on Contact Form.)
  • Enter the correct version of your work. If you make a mistake, entry fees will not be refunded. (You will have to enter again.)

Eligibility

Read the rules carefully before entering the competition. Entry implies acceptance of all the rules and failure to comply will result in disqualification.

All entries are judged anonymously. Please do not include your name, address, phone number, email, website, twitter handle etc on the document or in the file name or it will be disqualified.

Entries will be disqualified if they are over the 50 line limit, and there will be no refund.

Entries must be entirely your own work.

Entries must NOT have been traditionally published in book or magazine form. Work that has been self-published, or published on a website, blog or online forum or online journal IS eligible for entry.

Entries must NOT have won in any other competition. If your entry was long-listed or shortlisted in other competitions it IS still eligible.

Simultaneous submissions are allowed but if an entry wins a prize elsewhere, is published or scheduled for future publication, prior to the date of prize giving, you must inform us to withdraw immediately. Entry fees will not be refunded.

Length

Maximum 450 words.

Fees

£11.00 per Prose Poem. (Subsequent entry: £5.50)

Entries must be submitted online via Submittable. No email submissions.

Format

  • Entries must be typed, can be SINGLE-, 1.5, or DOUBLE-SPACED. Put the title of the Prose Poem on the front page. Save as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx) or PDF file with the title as the file name. Do not include your name in the file name as this will lead to disqualification.
  • Max 2MB file. Include the word count for the prose poem, top right, first page.
  • Do not add cover pages.
  • No illustrated work.

Judging

The judges’ decision is final. No individual correspondence can be entered into. Judges are unable to comment on individual entries. The Plaza Prizes reserves the right to change the judge without notice.

Copyright

Copyright remains with the author, but The Plaza Prizes reserves the right to publish extracts from any of the 10 shortlisted prose poems for publicity purposes.

Results & Awards

The Plaza Prose Poetry Prize 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize-winners will be announced on the website and social media in June 2024. The 10 short-listed entries will be published in The Plaza Prizes Anthology 2, which will be launched at our awards ceremony in October 2024.

Bursary Scheme

In 2023-2024, we will be offering 100 FREE ENTRY BURSARIES across all our competitions to writers on low incomes, and from underrepresented groups. You can apply for a bursary if low income, class, race, age, gender, sexuality, caring responsibilities, location, disability, or mental and physical health affects your writing. We want to encourage equality to discover quality new writing from diverse voices. Click here to apply for our Bursary Scheme.

Finally

The Plaza Prizes reserves the right to amend the rules where it deems necessary. Any changes to the rules will be posted on our website.

If you have a query about eligibility, please contact: hello@theplazaprizes.com

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