CONTEST GUIDELINES

THE FIFTH ANNUAL
SONGS OF ERETZ
POETRY AWARD CONTEST
(ENDORSED BY DUOTROPE)

DEADLINE:  OCTOBER 15, 2018  

 HONORARIA WILL BE AWARDED AS FOLLOWS:

1st Place: Up to One Thousand Dollars
2nd Place:  Up to Two Hundred Dollars
3rd Place:   Up to One Hundred Dollars
Readers Choice: Two Hundred Dollars
Duotrope will also award a $50 Gift Certificate to the 1st place winner

Guest Finalists' Judge 

Montana Poet Laureate 
Lowell Jaeger

HOW TO SUBMIT:
Failure to follow these simple instructions may result in your submission being disqualified.

First, go to PayPal.com to send your donation for each batch of up to five poems.  Use Donations@SongsOfEretz.com for the recipient's address.  Include your name and the title(s) of your poem(s) in the PayPal comment section.  

YOU CHOOSE THE AMOUNT YOU WISH TO DONATE TO SUPPORT THE CONTEST AND THE CONTINUATION OF SONGS OF ERETZ.  

The amount of your donation will determine the amounts of the honoraria you may win and whether or not you will receive editorial feedback on your submission.  All judging (preliminary and final) is done BLINDLY as to the amounts of donations.  Use the following table to guide you.

Donation   Max Prize for 1st   Max Prize for 2nd   Max Prize for 3rd   Feedback
<$5           Bragging Rights     Bragging Rights       Bragging Rights      None
$5              $250                       $50                         $25                          None
$10            $500                       $100                       $50                          None
$15            $750                       $150                       $75                          None
$20+         $1,000                    $200                        $100                        Provided

Next, email up to FIVE poems, each poem IN A SEPARATE EMAIL (one poem per email), to Submissions@SongsOfEretz.com.  Each Subject Line should read:  "Contest Submission [Title of Poem]".  Your poem should appear in the body of your email--DO NOT SEND ATTACHMENTS.  If for reason of special formatting you feel an attachment is necessary in order to present your poem properly, query first.  


Cover Letter:  Include a cover letter IN THE BODY OF EACH EMAIL with the following information:
- The poem's publication history (unpublished or prior publication history)
- If yours is a simultaneous submission or not.  If simultaneous, you must state that you agree to withdraw your poem from consideration elsewhere if it is selected for the semi-finals.
- How you discovered the contest.
- Your contact information, including your city and state.  Include your country too if you live outside the United States.
- Please indicate if you would like to be added to our email list and thereby receive periodic news and updates from Songs of Eretz.  You will not be added to the list unless you ask.  Your decision to be added to the list or not will have no bearing whatsoever on the evaluation of your submission.
- Please do not include anything else (such as your bio, credits, or any explanatory material or notes).  Submissions that include such additional information will be automatically disqualified.  If you feel your poem requires an explanation, revise it until you feel it does not.
If one (or more than one) of your poems is offered publication, you will be asked for (and expected to provide) your bio, publication credits, and a "poet's notes" statement--but PLEASE wait to be asked for these items.

Important Definitions & Exclusions (skip this section at your peril):  
- A "submission" is a batch of up to five poems submitted during the same hour.  
- Unpublished work and reprints are welcome.  
- Poetry of any genre will be considered.
- Each poem should be no more than 833 words in length excluding the title. 
- A "poem" is a SINGLE piece of verse.  If your poem is really a numbered series of poems, each numbered poem in the series counts as ONE.  If you are not sure, query first.
- Poems previously submitted to a Songs of Eretz venue, whether accepted or rejected for publication, are NOT eligible.
- Collaborative work (a poem composed by more than one poet) is NOT permitted.
- Simultaneous submissions ARE permitted INITIALLY.  However, if your poem makes it as far as the semi-finals, you must withdraw it from consideration elsewhere.  
- Work pending publication elsewhere is NOT permitted.
- Past Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest winners and past and present Songs of Eretz staff members and guest contest judges and their immediate families are NOT eligible to participate.  Temporary editorial staff first readers are not eligible for the contest for which they are first readers.

The Readers Choice Award Contest:  All non-winning finalists (if any) must agree to allow their poems to be published in Songs of Eretz Poetry Review as participants in the Readers Choice Award Contest, and the readership will vote for its favorite among them.  The poet whose poem receives the most votes will be awarded two hundred dollars.  The only payment the other participants will receive is publication.  Songs of Eretz reserves the right to cancel this contest if there are fewer than eight non-winning finalists.

Every previously unpublished poem submitted will be considered for unpaid publication in Songs of Eretz Poetry Review.

Response Time and Feedback:  Enter early and enter often!  Unlike most contests, entries will be read and receive responses on a rolling basis, usually within a few days of submission--we do NOT wait until the contest is closed to respond.

The winning entries will be published (or reprinted) in the Review as special features.

Disclaimer:  In the most unlikely event that the contest does not receive enough in donations to cover the honoraria offered (this has never happened in the five-year history of the contest), the contest will be canceled and all donations refunded.

THE CONTEST WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN FEBRUARY 2019

THE READERS CHOICE AWARD CONTEST WILL BEGIN IN THE SPRING OF 2019