National Poetry Series

The National Poetry Series seeks book-length manuscripts of poetry written by American residents or American citizens living abroad.

Manuscripts are submitted online only via Submittable with an entrance fee of $35.00 (per manuscript). The entry period for the 2026 Open Competition begins on January 7, 2026, 12:00 AM EST and runs through (and including) March 21, 2026, 11:59 PM EST.

IN ORDER TO BE CONSIDERED, MANUSCRIPTS MUST ADHERE TO THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES:

1. All manuscripts must be previously unpublished in their complete form, although some or all of the individual poems may have appeared in periodicals.
2. Translations, chapbooks, small groups of poems, and self-published books are not eligible.
3. Manuscript length is not limited. However, a length of 48-64 pages is suggested.
4. Manuscripts must be paginated and contain a Table of Contents.
5. Because all submissions are anonymously submitted, and must be preserved as such until the end of the contest, please observe the following:   The cover page of the manuscript should list the title of the manuscript only. No personal information of any kind, including name, address, phone number or email address should appear anywhere within the manuscript. All contact information will be entered separately in the entrant’s Submittable account.
6. Please do not include:   Photographs, illustrations, or artwork. All submissions must be in black and white. Entrants may include a notes page, so long as it only includes external references and provides context for the poems that is not personal in nature.
7. Please do not include:  Acknowledgments, explanatory statements, resumes, or autobiographical statements.
8. A list of previous publications or appearances in periodicals should not be included.
9. When saving manuscripts, entrants should not “name” the manuscript with their last name in their personal computer storage, as that will appear when the reader opens the manuscript. For example: John Smith should not save his manuscript as “Smith_Poetry _Manuscript.doc.”
10. Entrants should inform NPS immediately if their manuscript is selected for publication elsewhere.

Each manuscript is reviewed for adherence to our guidelines before being assigned to our readers. If a manuscript has an error in formatting (i.e., missing page numbers, an included acknowledgements page, etc.), the entrant will be offered the opportunity to upload a corrected document through Submittable. However, we do not accept revisions on manuscripts beyond these formatting issues (altering stanzas in a poem, adding poems, etc.). If an entrant wishes to make editorial changes to their submission, they are welcome to withdraw and resubmit within the application window. This will require a new $35 entry fee.

Finalists will be notified by approximately June 15 of the calendar year.  The finalists’ manuscripts will then be submitted to five separate judges for consideration.

The five winning authors are notified in early September of the calendar year. All finalists will be notified of their status at that time.

*Some use of languages other than English (i.e., words, phrases, even occasional poems) is permitted, but the manuscript must be predominantly written in English so that our readers and judges can understand and review the work without speaking another language.

For frequently asked questions visit https://nationalpoetryseries.org/apply