Enter Midway Journal’s Action/Words Poetry Contest for a chance to win the $300 grand prize! See contest guidelines below.
Opens: October 1st
Closes: December 31st
Fee: $10 per entry (unlimited entries)
Prizes:
First Prize: $300 + publication in Midway Journal
Second Prize: $150 + publication in Midway Journal
Third Prize: $50 + publication in Midway Journal
Judge: Ruth Awad
Contest Guidelines:
Entries and payments must be received through Midway Journal‘s online submission manager under “Action/Words Poetry Contest.” You may submit an unlimited number of entries, but a new entry fee must be paid for each new submission.
Action/Words Poetry Contest seeks submissions that call for, enact, or reflect upon connections between poetry and praxis. Each fall, the Midway team will select a verb to serve as the “action word” and theme for that year’s contest. This year, we have selected the verb “to gather.” We welcome writers to submit poems that respond directly or indirectly to the various meanings of this term.
Paste the title of your submission and your contact information (name, mailing address, email address, etc.) in the cover letter box. Your name and contact information must not appear anywhere on the manuscript you upload.
Previously published work will not be accepted. Simultaneous submissions are permitted but must be withdrawn from the contest if accepted elsewhere.
Poetry: up to 3 poems per entry. Any style. No word limits. No more than one poem per page.
All submissions will be considered for publication.
Judge: Ruth Awad
Ruth Awad is a Lebanese-American poet, 2021 NEA Poetry Fellow, and the author of Outside the Joy (Third Man Books, 2024) and Set to Music a Wildfire (Southern Indiana Review Press, 2017), winner of the 2016 Michael Waters Poetry Prize and the 2018 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. Alongside Rachel Mennies, she is the co-editor of The Familiar Wild: On Dogs & Poetry (Sundress Publications, 2020). She is the recipient of a 2020 and 2016 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Poetry, Poem-a-Day, AGNI, The Believer, The New Republic, Kenyon Review, Pleiades, The Missouri Review, The Rumpus, and elsewhere.
Judging Process:
The staff of Midway Journal will select a group of finalists from all the contest entries. Finalists will be chosen for strong work regardless of style and sent to the judge by February. The finalists will be sent to judge blindly. A winner will be announced in March and published in Midway.
-1000 Below: Flash Prose and Poetry Contest
Enter Midway Journal’s -1000 Below: Flash Prose and Poetry Contest for a chance to win the $500 grand prize! See contest guidelines below.
Opens: March 1st
Closes: June 1st
Fee: $10 per entry (unlimited entries)
Prizes:
First Prize: $500 + publication in Midway Journal
Second Prize:$250 + publication in Midway Journal
Third Prize: $50 + publication in Midway Journal
Judge: Jennifer Tseng
Contest Guidelines:
Entries and payments must be received through Midway Journal‘s online submission manager under “-1000 Below: Flash Prose and Poetry Contest.” You may submit an unlimited number of entries, but a new entry fee must be paid for each new submission. You may also submit to each genre. However, there is only one grand prize winner, one second prize winner and one third prize winner and not a winner in each genre.
Paste the title of your submission and your contact information (name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address) in the cover letter box. Your name and contact information must not appear anywhere on the manuscript you upload.
Previously published work will not be accepted. Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but must be withdrawn from the contest if accepted elsewhere.
Poetry: up to 2 poems per entry, up to 50 words per poem. No more than one poem per page.
Prose (Fiction and Nonfiction): 1 piece per entry, up to 1,000 words per piece.
All submissions will be considered for publication.
Judge: Jennifer Tseng
Jennifer Tseng is an award-winning poet and prose writer whose work has been translated into Chinese, Danish, and Italian. Her most recent book is The Passion of Woo and Isolde. She teaches literature and creative writing at University of California, Santa Cruz. Read more about Jennifer at https://jennifertseng.weebly.com/.
Judging Process:
The staff of Midway Journal will select a group of finalists from all the contest entries. Finalists will be chosen for strong work regardless of genre and sent to the judge by September. The finalists will be sent to judge blindly. A winner will be announced in October.