The Chad Walsh Chapbook Series

A Net to Catch my Body in its Weaving by Katie Ferris
TC Tolbert's chapbook The Quiet Practices,
2023 Chad Walsh Chapbook Series winner.
  • Open to any poet writing in English, regardless of publication history
  • $2500 prize, 50 author copies (perfect bound, full-color cover), and an in-depth editorial consultation
  • Winning chapbook distributed to every BPJ subscriber and 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 -- opening and closing at midnight Eastern Time
  • Results announced in late winter/spring
  • Selected manuscript published in spring/early summer  


Guidelines

  • Submit (via Submittable) a manuscript of 20-35 pages of poetry (including the table of contents and acknowledgments page); 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 presents a hardship. (Email us at bpj@bpj.org for details.)
  • Submitters paying the $20 fee may purchase a 1-year subscription to the BPJ for only $15, nearly half off the regular subscription price. (An additional shipping charge applies to international subscribers.). The subscription will begin with the winning chapbook, published in spring/summer.
  • While individual poems may have appeared in periodicals, online, etc., the manuscript as a whole must be previously unpublished.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.
  • 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, student (outside of brief, one-off workshops), or if you have engaged the editing/consultation services 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.