Give your writing a little love the day after Valentine’s Day, and submit to contests with a February 15 deadline. Prizes include $3,000 for a first or second poetry collection or a work that intersects with poetry, including hybrid text, speculative prose, and translation; $1,500 for a group of poems; and $2,000 for a work of fiction. All awards have a cash prize of $1,000 or more, and four have no entry fee. Good luck, writers!
Academy of American Poets
Ambroggio Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication by University of Arizona Press is given annually for a poetry collection originally written in Spanish by a living writer and translated into English. Achy Obejas will judge. Entry fee: none.
Academy of American Poets
Harold Morton Landon Translation Award
A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a poetry collection translated from any language into English and published in the United States during the previous year. Anna Deeny Morales will judge. Entry fee: none.
Airlie Press
Airlie Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Airlie Press is given annually for a poetry collection. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $25.
Arrowsmith Press
Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry
A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a poetry collection published in English during the previous year by a writer who is not a citizen of the United States. Poets who are living in the United States as green card holders are among those eligible. Poets whose work appears in translation into English are also eligible. Canisia Lubrin will judge. Entry fee: $20.
Center for African American Poetry and Poetics/Autumn House Press
Book Prize
A prize of $3,000 and publication by Autumn House Press is given annually for a first or second poetry collection or a work that intersects with poetry, including hybrid text, speculative prose, and translation, by a writer of African descent. Nicole Sealey will judge. Entry fee: none.
Furious Flower Poetry Center
Furious Flower Poetry Prize
A prize of $1,500 and publication in Obsidian, the literary journal of Illinois State University, is given annually for a group of poems. The winner also receives a $500 honorarium to give a reading at James Madison University (either virtually or in person, as public health guidelines allow). Poets who have published no more than one collection of poetry are eligible. Evie Shockley will judge. Entry fee: $15.
New American Press
New American Poetry Prize
A prize of $1,500, publication by New American Press, and 25 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Jamaica Baldwin will judge. Writers of any citizenship working anywhere in the world are eligible, though the work should presume English-language readers. Entry fee: $25.
Sarabande Books
Morton and McCarthy Prizes
Two prizes of $2,000 each and publication by Sarabande Books are given annually for collections of poetry and fiction. Entry fee: $29.
Syracuse University Press
Veterans Writing Award
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Syracuse University Press is given biennially in alternating years for either a debut fiction or a debut nonfiction manuscript written by a U.S. veteran, active-duty personnel in any branch of the U.S. military, or the immediate family member of a veteran or active-duty personnel. The 2023 award will be given in nonfiction. Anuradha Bhagwati will judge. Entry fee: none.
Visit the contest websites for complete guidelines, and check out the Grants & Awards database and Submission Calendar for more contests in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and translation.