Broken River Prize

The Broken River Prize is an annual poetry book contest from Platypus Press. Each year a different poet will judge the contest—2020’s judge is poet and teacher Kaveh Akbar.

You can purchase Hijito (by Carlos Andrés Gómez), 2018’s winner, selected by Eduardo C. Corral, here.

Details

  • Runs between May 1st and July 31st, 2020.
  • No submission fee.
  • For books between 35–50 pages in length (inc. section breaks).
  • Receive publication and $250/£200 prize money.
  • Finalists and winner will be announced late 2020.
  • Finalists will be considered for publication.
  • The contest is open internationally.
  • Additional guidelines below.

Kaveh Akbar’s poems appear in The New Yorker, Poetry, The New York Times, Paris Review, Best American Poetry, and elsewhere. His newest full-length volume of poetry, Pilgrim Bell, will be published by Graywolf and Chatto/Random House in 2021.

Guidelines

  • Please include a title page and acknowledgements section with your submission.
  • The manuscript does not need to be double-spaced unless intended to be reproduced that way.
  • You can include previously published poems; however, we would prefer that at least a third be unpublished.
  • We accept simultaneous submissions but please let us know if a submission has been accepted elsewhere.
  • All work should be attached in a single .docx or PDF file, and your email must include a third-person bio.
  • Please do not submit manuscripts that contain images, artwork, and/or erasure or found poetry.
  • The winner will receive ten (10) copies of the published book as well as the $250 prize money.