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Saturnalia Books

Poetry Prize

&

Alma Book Awards

Information you need to know:
Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize: $1500 and publication by Saturnalia Books

Selected by 2025 Judge: Hadara Bar-Nadav

Hadara Bar-Nadav is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry, the Lucille Medwick Award from the Poetry Society of America, a fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, and other honors. Her books include The Animal Is Chemical (Four Way Books, 2024), awarded the Levis Prize in Poetry, selected by Jericho Brown; The New Nudity (Saturnalia Books, 2017); Lullaby (with Exit Sign) (Saturnalia Books, 2013), awarded the Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize; The Frame Called Ruin (New Issues, 2012), Editor’s Selection/Runner Up for the Green Rose Prize; and A Glass of Milk to Kiss Goodnight (Margie/Intuit House, 2007), awarded the Margie Book Prize. She is also the author of two chapbooks, Fountain and Furnace (Tupelo Press, 2015), awarded the Sunken Garden Poetry Prize, and Show Me Yours (Laurel Review/Green Tower Press 2010), awarded the Midwest Poets Series Prize. In addition, she is co-author with Michelle Boisseau of the best-selling textbook Writing Poems, 8th ed. (Pearson, 2011). Her poetry has appeared in The American Poetry Review, The Believer, The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, and elsewhere. A current reader for Poetry, she is a Professor of English and teaches in the MFA program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Alma Book Awards: Two $1000 awards and publication by Saturnalia Books

Selected by the Saturnalia Books Editorial Team

Guidelines:

  1. Manuscript must be an original work of poetry written in English.
  2. Manuscript must be at least 48 pages in length (not including foreword material).
  3. Author’s name and contact information must not appear on manuscript.
  4. Acknowledgment page is optional. If your manuscript is a finalist, the acknowledgment page will be removed before it is sent to the judge.
  5. Online fee is $35. No refunds will be given to any manuscripts withdrawn from the competition after April 1 deadline.
  6. Multiple submissions are allowed. Each new submission will require its own online fee of $35.
  7. Simultaneous submissions are allowed. If your manuscript is accepted elsewhere (congratulations!), please withdraw promptly.
  8. All entries will be considered for all three prizes.
  9. Former students who have studied “poetry writing” with the judge are ineligible to enter. Friends and family of the judge are also ineligible.
  10. Contest winner will be announced in July on the Saturnalia Books website and via email. Please do not contact Saturnalia Books regarding your submission status before August 1.
  11. By submitting to the contest, you agree to be added to Saturnalia Books’ email list.

Previous Saturnalia Poetry Prize Winners Include: