Opportunities → Chapbook Competition
ABOUT THE COMPETITION
For more than 25 years, Center for Book Arts has annually invited writers to submit a manuscript for review by a guest judge who is an expert in the field.
The guest judge selects a winner and two runners-up for the competition.
CBA then commissions artists to design and produce a limited-edition chapbook of the competition winner’s manuscript, a limited-edition chapbook of a manuscript by the guest judge, and two limited-edition broadsides respectively featuring poems by the competition runners-up.
CBA also programs a reading and publication launch as part of the competition. Publications from previous competitions are available in the bookshop.
Each year, the competition winner receives ten copies of their chapbook, a $500 honorarium, a $500 stipend to participate in the competition reading, a week-long stay at Millay Arts during their Wintertide Rustic Retreat season (valued at $480), and one copy each of the guest judge’s chapbook and the runners-up’s broadsides.
The two runners up each receive ten copies of their respective limited-edition broadside, a $250 honorarium to participate in the competition reading, and one copy each of the winner and guest judge’s chapbooks.
2024 POETRY CHAPBOOK COMPETITION
We will be accepting submissions for the 2024 Poetry Chapbook Competition from 09/01/2023 through 12/15/2023.
VIDEOS OF PREVIOUS READINGS
2023 Competition
Winner: Bhion Achimba
Runners-up: S.Kim & Sadé Powell
Guest Judge: Aracelis Girmay
PREVIOUS COMPETITIONS
2022 Competition
Winner: Mai Serhan
Runners-up: Megan Sugnyoon & Nicola Masciandaro
Guest Judge: Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge
2021 Competition
Winner: Bianca Rae Messinger
Runners-up: Dujie Tahat & Benjamin Aleshire
Guest Judge: Simone White
2020 Competition
Winner: Katerina I. Ramos-Jordán
Runners-up: Rushi Vyas & Emily Bludworth de Barrios
Guest Judge: Raquel Salas Rivera
2019 Competition
Winner: Miriam Bird Greenberg
runners-up: Ayokunle Falomo & Trinity Tibe
Guest Judge: Edwin Torres
2018 Competition
Winner: Luisa A. Igloria
Runners-up: Jason Baker & Elly Bookman
Guest Judge: Natasha Trethewey
2017 Winner
Winner: Kim Fberly Kruge
Runners-up: Dave Denny & Basma Kavanagh
Guest Judge: Juan Filipe Herrera
2016 Winner
Winner: Emily Carlson
Runners-up: Fritz Ward & Patrick Donnelly
Guest Judge: Mary Ruefle
2015 Competition
Winner: Diana Marie-Delgado
Runners-up: Joy Katz & Pablo Miguel Martinez
Guest Judge: Cornelius Eady
2014 Competition
Winner: Sara Wallace
Runners-up: Carol Ann Davis & M. Callen
Organized by David St. John
2013 Competition
Winner: Sandra Beasley
Runners-up: Sheila Carter-Jones, Joshua Kryah & Alexandra Lytton Regalado
Guest Judge: Harryette Mullen
2012 Competition
Winner: V. Penelope Pelizzon
Runners up Rob Stephens & Susan B.A. Somers-Willet
Organized by Phillis Levin
2011 Competition
Winner: Nehassaiu deGannes
Runners-up: Sue Burton & Mark McKain
Guest Judge: Kimiko Hahn
2010 Competition
Winner: Alexander Long
Runners-up: Hadara Bar-Nadar, Deborah Flanagan & Jennifer Perrine
Guest Judge: Terrance Hayes
2009 Competition
Winner: Bonnie Jo Campbell
Runners up: Lucia Perillo & Teresa Leo
Guest Judge: Kim Addonizio
2008 Competition
Winner: Robert Ostrom
Runners-up: Page Starzinger & Rusty Morrison
Guest Judge: Tomaz Salamun
2007 Competition
Winner: Eric Pankey
Runners up Beth Ann Fennelly and Ann Snodgrass
Organized by Jane Hirshfield
2006 Competition
Winner: Jesse Lee Kercheval
Runners-up: Stephanie Lenox & Matthew Thorburn
Guest Judge: Albert Goldbarth
2005 Competition
Winner: Ailish Hopper
Runners-up: Ann Fisher-Wirth & Joy Katz
Guest Judge: Jean Valentine
2004 Competition
Winner: Jeffrey Skinner
Runners up: Jillian Weise & Ted Mathys
Guest Judge: C.K. Williams
2003 Competition
Winner L.B. Thompson
Runners-up: Eve Grubin & Barbara Ungar
Guest Judge: Marie Howe
2002 Competition
Winner: Rachel Zucker
Guest Judge: Lynn Emmanuel
2001 Competition
Winner: Jack Ridl
Guest Judge: Billy Collins
2000 Competition
Winner Terri Witek
Guest Judge: Rachel Hadas
1999 Competition
Winner: Donald Platt
Guest Judge: Eaven Boland
1998 Competition
Winner: James Haug
Guest Judge: Gerald Stern
1997 Competition
Winner Judith Vollmer
Guest Judge: Mark Doty
1996 Competition
Winner: Andrew Kaufman