The Poetry Chapbook Prize 2023-24
The winner of The Headlight Review’s 2024 Poetry Chapbook Prize Contest will receive publication (a perfectly bound book with a full color or black/white cover), an award of $500, and 25 copies of the book.
Submission Period
October 1 - December 31, 2023
A list of finalists will be announced sixty days after the close of submissions. All manuscripts will be judged blindly. The finalists who make it through the first round will be judged by esteemed poet Valerie A. Smith.
The winning manuscript will be published within six months after the results of the competition are announced in April of 2024. Each judge’s favorite poem from their selected finalist will be highlighted at The Headlight Review.
2023 Judge
Valerie A. Smith
Valerie A. Smith’s poetry collection, Back to Alabama, is forthcoming from Sundress Publications in April 2024. She has a PhD from Georgia State University and a MA from Kennesaw State University where she teaches English. A Hambidge and Sewanee Writers Conference scholar, her poems have been published in Radix, Aunt Chloe, Weber, Spectrum, Obsidian, Crosswinds, Dogwood, Solstice, Oyster River Pages, Wayne Literary Review and on her website www.valeriesmithwriter.com. Above all, she values spending quality time with her family.
Guidelines
Eligibility: Employees and students at Kennesaw State University, both former and current, are not eligible to enter. Entrants must be at least 18 years of age or older.
Electronic submissions: The $18 entry fee is payable by debit/credit card via the KSU submission system, which you may find at the “Submit Your Manuscript” button at the bottom of this page. For $25 you can submit your manuscript and receive copies of the 3 previous winners.
Manuscript Submission Details
Size: Manuscripts must be between 24-36 pages, including cover page, table of contents and any acknowledgements.
Format: 12 pt. standard typeface, PDF only.
Title page: Should include the title of the manuscript and nothing else. No. identifying name or address is permitted in the manuscript.
Poems: Poems that have been published elsewhere must be acknowledged. Overall, the manuscript should be original and previously unpublished.
Multiple submissions: Are acceptable. Each submission requires a separate entry fee.
Simultaneous submissions: Are acceptable. Please inform us immediately upon acceptance elsewhere. Entry fees are nonrefundable.
Language: Entries must be written in the English language.
Illustrations: Are discouraged.
Translations: Are ineligible.
Comments: Will not be provided to non-winning entrants.
Editing: Will not be permitted once submitted.
Kennesaw State’s MA in Professional Writing Program (MAPW) endorses and abides by the Ethical Guidelines of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP). Our system for judging is transparent and blind. The first-round judges will receive and rate their choices in order, and this will create a list of finalists. The manuscript finalists will go to the finalist judge, who will then select the best among the finalists.
