Submissions to the Wisconsin Poetry Series are now open! Any poet with an original, full-length poetry manuscript is eligible for the Brittingham and Felix Pollak Prizes in Poetry or the Wisconsin Prize for Poetry in Translation.

Run by the University of Wisconsin Press, both prizes involve an application fee of $28. Winners will receive $1,500 and publication through the UW Press, while finalists will also be offered the chance to publish their collections.

Amaud Jamaul Johnson will judge the Brittingham and Felix Pollak Prizes in Poetry. He is the author of three poetry collections, Red Summer (2006), Darktown Follies (2013), and Imperial Liquor (2020). He won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, the Dorset Prize, and a Pushcart Prize.

Geoffrey Brock will judge this year’s Wisconsin Prize for Poetry in Translation. He is the author of three books of poems, the editor of The FSG Book of 20th-Century Italian Poetry, and the translator of various books of poetry, prose, and comics, most recently Giuseppe Ungaretti’s Allegria, which received ALTA’s National Translation Award for Poetry.

The Brittingham & Felix Pollak Prizes in Poetry

  • The Brittingham and Pollak Prizes are open to any book-length poetry manuscript in English that has not yet been published as a full collection.
  • Assemble a single pdf including a title page, a table of contents, your poems, and (optionally) an acknowledgments page listing any magazines or journals where the submitted poems may have first appeared.
  • Your name and contact info should not appear anywhere in the document, or in the PDF file name.
  • Manuscripts should be 50-90 in length on 8.5″ x 11″ pdf pages.
  • Simultaneous submissions are permitted, as long as the author agrees to withdraw the manuscript through Submittable if it is accepted elsewhere.
  • If you have any questions, consult the FAQ. If you don’t find your answer, email [email protected].

The Wisconsin Prize for Poetry in Translation

  • Translators or original authors are invited to submit a book-length manuscript, including all poems in both their original language and their English translation.
  • The translations submitted must be previously unpublished in book form.
  • Simultaneous submissions are permitted, as long as the applicant withdraws the manuscript if it is accepted elsewhere.
  • Applicants are asked to confirm they hold the rights to their translations, before preparing a manuscript in pdf format, including the following:
    • A simple title page, which should include the names of the original author(s) and translator(s)
    • A table of contents, with accurate page numbers indicated.
    • 75 to 150 pages of poetry, including all poems in both their original language and translated into English, with numbered pages.
    • A biography page, including 50-to-250-word bios for each author and translator.
    • A project description that addresses the book’s historical, cultural, and/or artistic significance.
    • An acknowledgments page (optional, if any translations are previously published).

Winners will be chosen by February 15, 2024, and will be published by the University of Wisconsin Press the following fall or winter. Up to five other finalists will also receive offers from the University of Wisconsin Press, to be published in the spring of 2025.

Good luck to all applicants!

Deadline: September 15, 2023

Submit here.