Thank you for your interest in submitting to the BPJ.
We’re open to a wide range of forms and styles in contemporary poetry. We’re always watching for new poets, quickened language, and work that offers a fresh purchase on the political or social landscape.
We respond to manuscripts we know aren't for us as soon as we can. The rest we circulate among the editorial board members and continue to winnow. At long-weekend-long meetings, we read aloud those poems in which we have strong interest and collaborate to choose an issue from among them.
For more information about the journal, our various call for submissions, and our editorial process—and to read work we’ve published in the past—visit our website at www.bpj.org.
SUBMISSION PERIODS
▸ We read regular submissions during two open reading periods:
- Our Winter Open Reading Period runs from January 1 through January 31
- Our Summer Open Reading Period runs from July 1 through July 31
Note about open reading periods: We can receive 800 fee-free submissions per month in our open reading periods. If we reach 800, submissions will close until our next open reading period.
▸ We consider submissions for the Adrienne Rich Award for Poetry from February 1 to April 30.
▸ We consider manuscripts for the Chad Walsh Chapbook Series from October 1 to November 30.
Guidelines for all reading periods and contests are available on our website. See the submission forms below for specific guidelines pertaining to current and upcoming calls.
The Beloit Poetry Journal invites submissions for the Chad Walsh Chapbook Series with a special invitation to BIPOC poets. We’re offering an additional week for BIPOC poets to send their work our way fee free. We look forward to reading your work!
Since 1950, the BPJ has sustained a tradition of publishing and supporting emerging poets, writers from historically resilient communities, and underrepresented poets. We always offer a fee-free submission option as part of our ongoing efforts to become a more equitable and just publication. This year, we extend the fee free portal with an extra week and a direct invitation for submissions from BIPOC writers. The BPJ is an entirely independent journal, and the Chad Walsh Prize winners are selected by its senior editors, the majority of whom are BIPOC writers ourselves.
Here is information about the contest:
- 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–December 7, opening and closing at midnight Eastern Time
- Results announced in late winter/spring
- Selected manuscript published in 2025
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.
- Submitters submitting fee free have the option to pay it forward with a donation to the BPJ to support our independent publishing of world-aware poetry.
- 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.