2026 Colorado Prize for Poetry (with print subscription, US addresses only)
Ends on
Book-length poetry manuscripts will be accepted now through the deadline of midnight January 14, 2026. (Note: We will observe a grace period through midnight January 19, 2026.)
The winner will be announced by May 2026.
The winning book will be published by the Center for Literary Publishing and distributed by the University Press of Colorado in the fall of 2026. The poet will receive a $2,500 honorarium.
The online entry fee is $28 ($1.11 is a credit card fee and $1.89 goes to Submittable), which includes a one-year subscription to Colorado Review. Poets living outside the US will receive a digital subscription.
This year's final judge is Victoria Chang. Friends and students (current and former) of the final judge are not eligible to compete, nor are Colorado State University employees, students, or alumni. Entrants must be at least 18 years old.
Manuscripts may consist of poems that have been published, but the manuscript as a whole must not have been previously published (this includes self-publishing). If individual poems in the manuscript have been published, please do not include a list of publication credits. Please double-check your file before you upload your manuscript to make sure you are not including publication credits. If the judges discover publication credits have been included, they will not read the manuscript and the submission will be disqualified.
In the cover letter field, please enter the manuscript's title, your name, address, e-mail address, phone number, and (optional) a short bio note. All this information must be separate from the manuscript itself.
Your name should NOT appear anywhere in the manuscript itself; this contest is judged blind. Please make sure your name is not in your document's running heads of in the name of the electronic file itself. Please double-check this before you upload your manuscript. If the judges discover your name on the manuscript, they will not read it and the submission will be disqualified.
The theme and style are both open.
Manuscripts may be double- or single-spaced.
Manuscripts must be at least 48 pages but no more than 100 pages.
Please include a table of contents.
You may enter more than one manuscript. Each manuscript requires the entry fee. If you'd like the additional subscriptions sent to someone other than yourself, include that information. Otherwise, your subscription will be extended by one year for each additional entry.
Translations are not eligible for the Colorado Prize for Poetry.
Writers do NOT need to be residents or citizens of Colorado or the United States. If you are, however, a foreign national working in the United States, please check the conditions of your visa status with regard to receiving payment (in the event your manuscript is selected as the winner) from entities other than your sponsor. Colorado State University cannot issue honoraria to foreign nationals with B1/WB, B2/WT, H-1B, or F-1 visas. A J-1 visa holder with a sponsor other than CSU must have written authorization from the Responsible Officer (RO) at their sponsoring institution prior to the activity.
The Colorado Prize for Poetry adheres to the following Contest Code of Ethics, as adopted by the Council of Literary Presses and Magazines, of which the Center for Literary Publishing is a longtime member: “CLMP’s community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to 1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; 2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines — defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and 3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.”
Questions? Please call us at (970) 491-5449 or send an e-mail to creview@colostate.edu