Contest sponsors have been accepting nominations from writing progams and magazines until now. But I just recently received an announcement that open submissions are being accepted through Manuscript Hub.

For $3.50 you can upload two poems, which have to be unpublished or not published before April 15, 2008.

Submissions are due by midnight, June 1, 2009. Entrants cannot have a book-length poetry collection in print before November 2009. However, chapbooks are OK.

Judges do not want to see your name on the poems you submit. When you submit through Manuscript Hub, your submissions will be linked to your contact information listed in your account (you have to sign up for an account at Manuscript Hub). See my review of Manuscript Hub here. A suggestion from Manuscript Hub:

(From the release) You can either upload the two poems in one file or upload them as separate files (which allows you to submit and withdraw the same poems to/from other magazines on the system).

The guest editor of Best New Poets this year is Kim Addonizio. For more information on the competition, visit www.bestnewpoets.org.

But when I’d heard that Dorianne Laux was to judge The Smoking Poet contest – the first annual – and the entrance fee was only $5, I decided to send them three of my poems. They weren’t necessarily the ones I’d consider “my best” poems, but they were poems that I thought were closest to the type of poetry that bears some semblance of affinity with the preferences of the judge, keeping in mind that there is no perfect way to measure another person’s preferences.

Nevertheless, I was elated to have received a rejection letter from The Smoking Poet editors and a thank you for participating. I wasn’t expecting that at all. I’ve never seen a rejection letter from a contest before. But keep in mind I’m using the term “rejection letter” loosely. Tell me if you think this reads like one:

Thank you, Allen, for being part of The Smoking Poet’s First Annual Poetry Contest. The final votes have come in from our panel of judges, and although your poetry did not make it into the top four selections, we wanted you to know that we enjoyed reading your work very much. From so many, many submissions, it was difficult to choose … but we hope you will submit to us again. Watch for our regular calls for submissions and more upcoming contests.

I don’t know if any of the other non-winners received the same rejection letter, or a similar one, but I thought it was nice of them to say that they enjoyed reading my work. Congratulations to the winners of the contest, and may your best poems be set in the future:

First Prize: “Northward” by Koh Xin Tian
Second Prize: “Sock Puppet” by Malcolm R. Campbell
Third Prize: “Reunion: 30 Years Too Late” by Lana Maht Wiggins
Honorable Mention: ”Selected Love Letters I’m Still Trying to Write” Kelli Russell Agondon

By the way, I love the name The Smoking Poet for a literary journal. It speaks rebellion.