Here are the Guidelines for Omnidawn’s Single Poem Broadside Contest.

Suggested poem length:

Suggested: 8 to 24 lines in length

Poem should fit on one 8 x 11 page for a broadside. Type size can vary. The winner of the Omnidawn Single Poem Broadside Poetry Contest wins a cash prize of $1,000, publication of the broadside by Omnidawn, 20 free copies of the broadside, and publication of the winning poem in the Omnidawn newsletter.

For those of you who are not familiar with “Broadsides” here is the Wikipedia definition for the term “Broadside (printing)”: “A broadside is a large sheet of paper printed on one side only. Historically, broadsides were posters, announcing events or proclamations, or simply advertisements. Today, broadside printing is done by many smaller printers and publishers as a fine art variant, with poems often being available as broadsides, intended to be framed and hung on the wall.”—Wikipedia Omnidawn will use a local printer who will use high quality paper, suitable for framing.

  1. Omnidawn seeks a wide range of styles, approaches, forms, diversities, and aesthetics to send to the judge (for example: lyric, prose poems, experimental, etc.).
  2. There are no citizenship requirements or limitations. Online submissions are accepted from around the world. No postal submissions are accepted.
  3. We recommend that poems be between 8 and 24 lines in length, with blank lines used as stanza breaks each counting as a line. The title line and the blank line following are not counted in this 8 to 24 line recommendation. Poems that are outside this recommended size are still completely eligible, but may require special formatting and/or smaller type to fit well on the finished broadside.
  4. If you submit more than one poem we recommend that you begin each poem at the top of a new page and precede each poem with the words “POEM 1,” “POEM 2,” “POEM 3,” and so on to make it very clear to our editors where one poem ends and another begins.
  5. Poems must be in English, although it is perfectly acceptable to include some text in other languages.
  6. Poem submissions for all contests must be original. (If you include quotes from other works in your poem, please be sure they are clearly attributed to the author at the bottom of the poem.)
  7. Simultaneous submissions to other contests and multiple submissions to this or other Omnidawn contests are perfectly acceptable. You DO NOT have to notify us if your manuscript is taken elsewhere.
  8. Poems must be previously unpublished in any form. Therefore, poems that have been previously published in print or online web magazines, journals, or books (including self-published books) are ineligible.
  9. Do not include photographs or other graphic images.
  10. This contest is Identity-Hidden (formerly referred to as blind), so any information in your poem that could identify you, such as your name, will be removed before the poem is passed on to our readers. If you use your name within your poem please substitute a pseudonym and state at the bottom of the poem that this name is a pseudonym that is not your real name. If you win the contest the pseudonym will be replaced with your real name when we publish the broadside.
  11. Revisions are not allowed to a poem after it has been submitted to the contest.
  12. NOT ELIGIBLE: translations, or collaborations by more than one author.
  13. Students, colleagues, or close friends of the judge, Claire Marie Stancek, Omnidawn past and present staff and interns; and authors of books or broadsides Omnidawn has published. If you win this contest you are still eligible to enter and win one of Omnidawn’s book contests.
  14. No postal entries. We can only accept submissions via Submittable.
  15. It is our plan that the 2024 contest winner will be announced by January 2025, via the Omnidawn newsletter and website.