Homebound Publications Poetry Prize | Homebound Publications

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WINNERS

Winner: Writing the Significant Soil by David Anthony Sam

David Anthony Sam lives in Virginia with his wife and life partner, Linda. His poetry has appeared in over 90 journals and his poem, “First and Last,” won the 2018 Rebecca Lard Award. Six of his collections are in print including Final Inventory (Prolific Press 2018), Finite to Fail: Poems after Dickinson, 2016 Grand Prize winner of the GFT Press Chapbook Contest, and Dark Fathers (Kelsay Books 2019). He teaches creative writing at Germanna Community College, from where he retired as President in 2017 and serves as the Regional VP on the Board of the Virginia Poetry Society.

Finalist: Walk Deep by Abigail Prout

Abigail believes in the power of creativity to grow conscious evolution. Specializing in feminine-forward leadership through online courses and in-person retreats, she has worked with thousands of leaders throughout her 20 year career as a professional leadership coach. She has spent the last 25 years helping clients developing mastery of relational intelligence to create positive change. Her motto is “We are here to learn with each other”. Abigail has worked as a professional Co-Active coach for the last 20 years and has spent the last 7 years as faculty for the Co-Active Training Institute, leading their coaching and leadership courses. Abigail’s style is creative, direct and out of the box. She inspires spiritual truth to be lived out loud in all areas of life. She is a passionate poetess and writer who returned to live on the wild island where she grew up in Washington State with her husband, Clive, their two tweening daughters, Iona and Sophia, and her silky black lab, Bella.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Design by Therea Burns

Grasping at this Planet Just to Believe by Tanzila Ahmed

Turn to Greet the Sun by Laurel Trautwein

How Light Changes in Space by Kirsten Chen

The Ragged Atlas by Alisha Goldblatt

Pneumonia Weather by Corey Turner

Animal Cartographers by Sarina Bosco

how to submit

“Poetry is one of the ancient arts, and it begins as did all the fine arts, within the original wilderness of the earth.”

—mary oliver

“When I began to listen to poetry, it’s when I began to listen to the stones, and I began to listen to what the clouds had to say, and I began to listen to other. And I think, most importantly for all of us, then you begin to learn to listen to the soul, the soul of yourself in here, which is also the soul of everyone else.”

—joy harjo

“There’s a reason poets often say, ‘Poetry saved my life,’ for often the blank page is the only one listening to the soul’s suffering, the only one registering the story completely, the only one receiving all softly and without condemnation.”

—Clarissa Pinkola Estes

“Poetry is eternal graffiti written in the heart of everyone.”

—Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The 2023 Poetry Prize is now open!

Details about the 2023 Poetry Prize

Deadline for entries is May 31st, 2023. On August 15, 2023 we will announce one winner from the entries as well as a finalist and honorable mentions. The winning manuscript will be published by Homebound Publications in April 2024. While there is no cash prize at this time, the winning author will be offered a royalty contract and publication in ebook, paperback and audiobook. The winning author/book will also receive a feature spread in Homebound Publication’s biannual magazine, The Wayfarer.

To enter, submit a manuscript between 48-75 pages in length (front and back matter are not included in page count) by May 31st, 2023. The entry fee is $25.00.

The editorial staff at Homebound Publications will judge the contest. The contest is not judged blind.

All entries will be considered for publication. We routinely publish manuscripts that are chosen for honorable mentions when the budget allows.

Entry Guidelines & Eligibility

To enter, the poetry collection must be previously unpublished.
A limited number of individual poems may have appeared in print or online but the poet must hold sole rights to the work.
Only authors who currently reside in the United States of America may enter.
Manuscripts must be in English.
Multiple entries by a single author are welcome but a separate entry forms and fees must be paid for each entry.
The manuscript must be no less than 48 and no more than 75 pages in length.
Employees and authors of Homebound Publications and its divisions are not eligible.

Entry by Post Mail

(Editor’s Note: While we are aware of the extra packaging required when sending via post, at this time we prefer entrants to send their submissions to us via USPS. When we complete our review of your materials, all packaging materials and paper is recycled.)

For those of you entering by post mail please include the following in your entry:

The full manuscript
A brief biographical statement
Check made payable to: Homebound Publications
Self-address stamped postcard (Should you desire confirmation of receipt of your entry.)

Post entries should be send to:

Homebound Publications

Attn: Poetry Prize

PO Box 1442, Pawcatuck, CT 06379 – 1968

[Please note:] Manuscripts submitted to the contest via post mail will not be returned. Please do not send us the original copy of your manuscript.

Entering Online

To enter online, you may submit your manuscript and payment via our secure submission platform here: Submit