• Open to any poet writing in English, regardless of publication history
• $1000 prize + 50 author copies (perfect bound, full-color cover)
• Winning chapbook distributed to every BPJ subscriber + sold separately (print run of approximately 1,500)
• BPJ editors will read all submissions and select a manuscript for publication
• Submissions open October 1-November 30
• Results announced in January
• Selected manuscript published in spring

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Guidelines

• Submit (via Submittable) a manuscript of 20-35 pages; each poem should begin on its own page.
• Reading fee of $20 per entry. You may submit additional manuscripts by paying an additional reading fee for each. A limited number of fee-free entries are available to poets for whom the reading fee represents a hardship. (Email us at bpj@bpj.org for details.)
• Submitters paying the reading fee may purchase a discounted 1-year subscription to the BPJ. (An additional shipping charge applies to international subscribers.)
• While individual poems may have appeared in periodicals, online, etc., the manuscript as a whole must be previously unpublished.
• Include a table of contents; if applicable, include an acknowledgements page that lists where poems appeared previously. 
• We welcome simultaneous submissions; you may simply withdraw your manuscript (via Submittable) if it is accepted for publication elsewhere. 
• At this time we aren’t considering translations or multi-author chapbooks, and we ask that you don’t submit manuscripts that include visual art.
• During the contest period, we can’t consider changes to manuscripts, though there will be time for editing before the selected chapbook is published.
• We follow CLMP Guidelines for contests and are committed, in all we do, to the highest ethical standards. If you are a close personal friend, family member, or student (outside of brief, one-off workshops) of any BPJ editor, or if you are a former or current intern or staff member of the BPJ, please refrain from submitting. Email us at bpj@bpj.org if you have questions about eligibility.