Writing Competition: 2018 Peter Meinke Prize for Poetry Chapbook

YellowJacket Press announces the 2018 Peter Meinke Prize for a poetry chapbook and expands the Florida contest to a national competition.

Since its inception in 2005, YellowJacket Press (YJP) has become known for supporting the state’s most vibrant poets and poetry as a labor of love. Recognized as Florida’s premier publisher of poetry chapbook manuscripts, we publish superior quality poetry in simple, yet beautiful, individually designed chapbooks.. YJP currently publishes 2-6 books a year and sponsors readings statewide for its poets. Based in Tampa, Florida, YellowJacket Press is a non-profit, independent literary press and a member of the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP).

YJP established the Peter Meinke Prize in 2011. Long considered a Florida treasure, Peter Meinke, Poet Laureate of Florida, has mentored and supported thousands of poets as director of the Writing Workshop at Eckerd College for over 20 years, through graduate workshops and through community-based writing programs. He is the author of over a dozen poetry, fiction, and nonfiction books, including The Contracted World: New and Selected Poems (University of Pittsburgh Press) and The Shape of Poetry (The Writer, Inc.). In 2009, Meinke was appointed the first ever Poet Laureate of St.. Petersburg. He was appointed Florida’s Poet Laureate in 2015. The contest honors Meinke’s enduring work and generous contributions to the writers and literary landscape of Florida. For more information about Peter Meinke, see his website.

Previous winners of the Peter Meinke Prize include Melissa Carroll for The Karma Machine; J.D. Scott for Night Errands; George Bishop for Following Myself Home; and Aliesa Zoecklein for At Each Moment, Air. Until this year, the contest was only open to Florida poets. Now it is open to any U.S. citizen.

GUIDELINES:
Poetry manuscripts should include 18-20 pages of poetry, title page, table of contents, and acknowledgments and be no longer than 24 pages total. Your name should not appear anywhere on the manuscript.

We are a small, volunteer staff and thus must limit the amount of submissions we can consider. Submissions are open between June 15 and June 30 midnight or until we reach 200 submissions. All submissions are through Submittable. Mailed and emailed submissions will not be considered. Members of the YJP Advisory Board will judge the manuscripts anonymously. 

The contest fee is $12. The winner of this year’s contest will be announced by Sept. 10, 2018, and will receive $500, 50 copies of the book, and will be invited to read with other YJP poets in October at the Other Words Conference in Tampa. All entrants may request a copy of the winning book.

The mission of YellowJacket Press is to support emerging and established poets in Florida (and now the U.S.) with an annual chapbook contest, chapbook publications, and public readings. YellowJacket Press creates a means for poets to share and promote their work, and nurtures a sense of community among poets and audiences across the state.

For more information about YellowJacket Press or the chapbook contest check the website or contact:

 yellowjacketpressATgmailDOTcom (Change AT to @ and DOT to . )