Information

Each year, the University of Akron Press offers the Akron Poetry Prize, a competition open to all poets writing in English. The winning poet receives $1,500 and publication of their book as part of the Akron Series in Poetry. The final selection will be made by a nationally prominent poet. Other manuscripts may also be considered for publication in the series. We will accept submissions for the 2025 Akron Poetry Prize competition from April 15, 2025 through June 15, 2025. The final judge for 2025 is Eduardo C. Corral.

Guidelines for Submission

1. Manuscripts must be a total length of at least 48 pages and no longer than 90 pages. Individual poems may have appeared in chapbooks or literary magazines, but we are unable to consider collections that have been previously published as a full-length volume. Translations are not eligible.

2. Manuscripts must not include identifying information, but should have a title page, and may include an acknowledgments page listing poems previously published in periodicals (if applicable). Please do not submit manuscripts that have the author's name on each page, or any biographical information. Manuscripts will go to the judge without identifying information. Be sure that your Submittable account reflects your updated contact information, as we will use this information when contacting you.

3. Manuscripts will be accepted via Submittable between April 15 and June 15 of each year. Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but The University of Akron Press must be notified immediately if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere. Multiple submissions are accepted. Please note that once submitted, manuscripts cannot be modified by the author. 

4. An entry fee of $25 is required for each manuscript submission, and will be collected through Submittable. Note: if you notice an error in your submission, please email uapress@uakron.edu for assistance. Withdrawing and resubmitting the same manuscript will result in nonrefundable duplicate charges.

5. Contest results will be posted on our website www.uakron.edu/uapress/poetryprizewinner by September 30. Questions may be sent to uapress@uakron.edu.

6. Intimate friends, relatives, current and former students of the final judge, as well as current and former faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the University of Akron or the Northeast Ohio MFA Program (NEOMFA) are not eligible to enter the Akron Poetry Prize competition. Authors who have previously won the Akron Poetry Prize or published with The University of Akron Press are also ineligible to enter. 

2025 Final Judge

Eduardo C. Corral is the son of Mexican immigrants. He's the author of Guillotine and Slow Lightning, which won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition. He’s the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Lannan Foundation Literary Fellowship, a Whiting Writers’ Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University. He teaches in the MFA program at Washington University in St. Louis.