Nine Syllables Press is delighted to announce our fourth annual chapbook contest. Nicole Sealey will be the final judge for 2026. The winner will be awarded $500 and author’s copies. The chapbook will be published within a year. Winners will be announced by February, 2026.
Submissions are open June 1-August 31, 2025, using our Submittable. There is a $10 submission fee. If the fee is prohibitive for you to submit, please email 9syllablespress (a) smith.edu and ask for a fee waiver.
Trans and nonbinary poets of all genders, and cis women poets can submit their chapbook to the Nine Syllables Press chapbook contest. We especially encourage trans/LGBTQIA+ poets and BIPOC poets to submit their work. Poets can have previously published collections of poetry, but the manuscript you submit cannot have been previously published. Individual poems from the collection may have been published elsewhere. Poets outside the US are also welcome to submit.
9SP complies with the CLMP Code of Ethics in the administration of this contest. The judge will select a manuscript in an anonymous review process and will not award the prize to any writer whose personal relationship to the judge poses a conflict of interest. Current students, faculty, and staff at Smith College are not eligible to submit, and those with a personal relationship with the final judge are not eligible to submit.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed, please withdraw your work if it is accepted elsewhere. We do not accept manuscripts which have been generated using AI (ChatGPT or similar software). Do not submit AI-generated work.
