Northwestern University’s Poetry and Poetics Colloquium, together with Northwestern University Press, is delighted to announce the opening of this year’s Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize, a first-book award for poets of color.
This is an annual award combining the efforts of Northwestern’s Poetry and Poetics Colloquium and Northwestern University Press in celebrating and publishing works of lasting cultural value and literary excellence. Seeking to showcase the work of emerging poets of color, volumes in the Drinking Gourd series are selected by a panel of distinguished minority poets and scholars and feature a short introduction by a senior minority writer.
The submission deadline for this year’s prize is October 31. The winner of the Drinking Gourd Poetry Chapbook Prize will be notified by early 2025. The winning chapbook will be published by Northwestern University Press in early 2026.
More details about the prize can be found at our website.
Drinking Gourd Chapbook Prize Guidelines:
Award
Winner receives $500 prize money, publication by Northwestern University Press and fifteen copies of the book.
Judging
Judging will be conducted by Drinking Gourd series editors Chris Abani and Susannah Young-ah Gottlieb.
Eligibility
Poets of color with US citizenship who have not previously published a book-length volume of poetry (inclusive of chapbooks). Simultaneous submissions to other contests should be noted. Immediate notification upon winning another award is required.
Deadline
Manuscripts must be submitted by October 31, 2024.
Submission
- Complete submission form [see below] to be included with manuscript packet.
- One entry per poet.
- Author’s name should appear on the first page of the manuscript.
- Manuscript must be presented single-spaced, with a minimum font size of 11 and should be 25–35 pages in length.
- Manuscript must include a table of contents and list of acknowledgments of previously published poems.
- Do not include illustrations or images of any kind.
- Manuscripts not adhering to submission guidelines will be discarded without notice to sender.
- Post-submission revisions or corrections are not permitted.
Email to: DrinkingGourd@northwestern.edu