Tupelo Press

The Berkshire Prize for a First or Second Book of Poetry includes a cash award of $3,000 in addition to publication by Tupelo Press, 20 copies of the winning title, a book launch, and national distribution with energetic publicity and promotion.

Translations are not eligible for this prize, nor are previously self-published books. 

Employees of Tupelo Press and authors with books previously published by Tupelo Press are not eligible. 

Poets submitting work for consideration may be authors having published only one previous collection or writers without prior book publications.

Berkshire Prize for a First or Second Book of Poetry

Please read contest details carefully before submitting.

Submit a previously unpublished, full-length poetry manuscript with a table of contents. There is no mandatory page count. We suggest in the area of 48 to 88 pages of poems, but all manuscripts will be read and considered with full respect, regardless of length, and no manuscript will be rejected simply because it’s shorter or longer.

If you are submitting a manuscript online, within the document include a single cover page with the title of the manuscript only, so that your manuscript document remains anonymous. Submittable provides fields to fill in your contact information: name, address, telephone number, and email address.

Individual poems in a contest manuscript may have been previously published in magazines, journals, or anthologies, or chapbooks, but the work as a whole must be unpublished. If applicable, include with your manuscript an acknowledgments page for prior publications.

Simultaneous submissions to other publishers or contests are permitted, as long as you notify.

Berkshire Prize for a First or Second Book of Poetry

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