2023 PROSE & POETRY CONTESTS FOR OHIO WRITERS
Gordon Square Review is holding two separate contests for Ohio writers. The 2023 Poetry Contest for Ohio Writers judged by Ruth Awad; and the 2023 Prose Contest for Ohio Writers judged by Hanif Abdurraqib.
This contest is open to writers who currently live in Ohio.
For the Poetry Contest, writers in Ohio may submit a single poem of any length. For the Prose Contest, writers in Ohio may submit a single nonfiction prose piece up to 3,000 words. The entry fee for each contest is $10 per entry. One winner in each category will receive a $500 prize and publication in Issue 12 of Gordon Square Review. One runner-up in each category will also be selected for publication.
The contests open on February 13, 2023 and close on April 13, 2023. See full guidelines below.
This contest is open to writers who currently live in Ohio.
For the Poetry Contest, writers in Ohio may submit a single poem of any length. For the Prose Contest, writers in Ohio may submit a single nonfiction prose piece up to 3,000 words. The entry fee for each contest is $10 per entry. One winner in each category will receive a $500 prize and publication in Issue 12 of Gordon Square Review. One runner-up in each category will also be selected for publication.
The contests open on February 13, 2023 and close on April 13, 2023. See full guidelines below.
2023 Poetry Contest for Ohio Writers
Final Judge: Ruth Awad
Ruth Awad is a Lebanese-American poet, a 2021 NEA Poetry fellow, and the author of Set to Music a Wildfire (Southern Indiana Review Press, 2017), winner of the 2016 Michael Waters Poetry Prize and the 2018 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. Alongside Rachel Mennies, she is the co-editor of The Familiar Wild: On Dogs and Poetry (Sundress Publications, 2020). She is the recipient of a 2020 and 2016 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, and she won the 2013 and 2012 Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize and the 2011 Copper Nickel Poetry Contest. Her work appears in Poetry, Poem-a-Day, The Believer, The New Republic, Pleiades, The Missouri Review, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She has an MFA in poetry from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and she lives and writes in Columbus, Ohio.
2023 Poetry Contest for Ohio Writers
Final Judge: Ruth Awad
Ruth Awad is a Lebanese-American poet, a 2021 NEA Poetry fellow, and the author of Set to Music a Wildfire (Southern Indiana Review Press, 2017), winner of the 2016 Michael Waters Poetry Prize and the 2018 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. Alongside Rachel Mennies, she is the co-editor of The Familiar Wild: On Dogs and Poetry (Sundress Publications, 2020). She is the recipient of a 2020 and 2016 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, and she won the 2013 and 2012 Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize and the 2011 Copper Nickel Poetry Contest. Her work appears in Poetry, Poem-a-Day, The Believer, The New Republic, Pleiades, The Missouri Review, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She has an MFA in poetry from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and she lives and writes in Columbus, Ohio.
2023 Prose Contest for Ohio Writers
Final Judge: Hanif Abdurraqib
Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His poetry has been published in Muzzle, Vinyl, PEN American, and various other journals. His essays and music criticism have been published in The FADER, Pitchfork, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. His first full length poetry collection, The Crown Ain't Worth Much, was released in June 2016 from Button Poetry. It was named a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Prize, and was nominated for a Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. With Big Lucks, he released a limited edition chapbook, Vintage Sadness, in summer 2017 (you cannot get it anymore and he is very sorry.) His first collection of essays, They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, was released in winter 2017 by Two Dollar Radio and was named a book of the year by Buzzfeed, Esquire, NPR, Oprah Magazine, Paste, CBC, The Los Angeles Review, Pitchfork, and The Chicago Tribune, among others. He released Go Ahead In The Rain: Notes To A Tribe Called Quest with University of Texas press in February 2019. The book became a New York Times Bestseller, was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, and was longlisted for the National Book Award. His second collection of poems, A Fortune For Your Disaster, was released in 2019 by Tin House, and won the 2020 Lenore Marshall Prize. In 2021, he released the book A Little Devil In America with Random House, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the The PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. The book won the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and the Gordon Burn Prize. Hanif is a graduate of Beechcroft High School.
Contest Guidelines
- To be eligible, writers must currently reside in Ohio. Please detail your Ohio residency information in the space provided in the Submittable form.
- All writer information (name, bio, etc.) will be withheld from contest judges. Please do not include your name or any identifying information anywhere on the document or in the document file name.
- The fee for each entry is $10. All entries will also be considered for publication.
- Contest entries must be previously unpublished in either print or online venues, including personal blogs.
- Poetry entries must consist of a single poem of any length submitted within a single document. Prose poetry and hybrid works are welcome. Writers may submit more than one entry, but a separate fee is required for each entry. Writers who submit to the poetry contest may also submit separately to the prose contest.
- Prose entries must consist of a single nonfiction prose piece up to 3,000 words within a single document. Writers may submit more than one entry, but a separate fee is required for each entry. Writers who submit to the prose contest may also submit separately to the poetry contest.
- Writers are welcome to make a separate general submission in addition to a contest entry. There is no need to submit the same writing to both the contest and the general submission pool, however, all contest entries will be considered for publication. The editors will individually notify any contest entrants selected for general publication.
- Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but we ask that you withdraw your work through Submittable if it is accepted elsewhere. Entry fees will not be refunded in the event of a withdrawal.
- All entries must be submitted via Submittable. Print or emailed entries will not be accepted (please contact us if this presents accessibility issues). Entry fees are nonrefundable.
- Each winner will receive $500 and publication in Issue 12 of Gordon Square Review.
- Gordon Square Review editors will read submissions and select finalists to send to the judges who will decide the contest winner and runner-up.
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