2nd Annual Lucille Clifton Poetry Prize, 2014 (Now Accepting Submissions)

The Lucille Clifton annual poetry contest, held each spring, honours the prolific work of the great poet  Lucille Clifton. Widely celebrated for her unpretentious and unapologetic poems, Clifton’s unique free verse was free of punctuation, taut, and always recognizably her. When submitting think: humanness, struggle, adversity, resilience.

Guidelines

Please submit no more than three unpublished poems, no more than five pages in length. No personal information should appear on the poems. The cover sheet should include: poem titles with line counts, author’s contact information and a brief bio. Entries must include a $10.00 reading fee payable via our Paypal donation page. All entries must be submitted or postmarked April 1st- June 15th, 2014. The selected winner will receive $250.00 and publication on our website along with honorable mentions. This year’s final judge will be Nikki Giovanni. Please send electronic submissions via email to:backbonepoetry@gmail.com with the words Lucille Clifton Prize. Please send postal entries to: Backbone Press, Inc. PO Box 51483, Durham, NC 27717-1483. Postal entries will not be returned.


2013 Lucille Clifton Poetry Prize Winners