Submissions are now open for the Brittingham Prize in Poetry, the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry, and the Wisconsin Prize for Poetry in Translation, all of which are awarded by the University of Wisconsin Press. Please read the instructions carefully before proceeding to our Submittable submissions manager. All submissions must be accompanied by a $28 entry fee, payable by credit card. Our submissions deadline is September 15. Winners will be announced no later than February 15, and winning manuscripts will be published in the first few months of 2023.

The Brittingham and Felix Pollak Prizes in Poetry are awarded annually to the two best book-length manuscripts of original poetry submitted in an open competition. Each winning poet receives a $1,000 cash prize. All submissions will be considered for both prizes. There are no restrictions on the kind of poetry or subject matter, although translations are not acceptable.

Only manuscripts uploaded between July 15 and September 15, or postmarked between August 15 and September 15, will be considered. Postal submissions must include a stamped, self-addressed, business-size envelope for notification of results. The manuscript must be previously unpublished in book form. Poems published in journals, chapbooks, and anthologies may be included, but must be acknowledged. No changes in the manuscript will be considered between submission and acceptance. Simultaneous submissions to other contests are permitted provided the poet agrees to inform the Series Editor of the manuscript’s acceptance for publication elsewhere, and to withdraw the manuscript via Submittable if applicable.

Online submissions are strongly encouraged, though postal submissions will still be accepted. All submissions must be typed, in a 8.5″ x 11″ document, single-spaced, and 50–to-90 manuscript pages in length. Pages should be numbered.

Online submissions open on July 15, and will close on September 15. After reading these instructions, you may access the Submittable submissions manager at wicw.submittable.com,. You will be asked to upload a single pdf including a title page, table of contents, your poems, and (if applicable) an acknowledgments page listing any magazines or journals where the submitted poems first appeared. Your name and contact info should not appear anywhere in the document. You will be asked to pay a $28 submission fee.

To submit by mail, please include the materials listed below. Note that online submissions are strongly preferred, and postal manuscripts will not be returned; do not enclose return packaging.

• Two title pages: one with the title, author’s name, address, e-mail, and phone number, and one with the title only. The author’s name shouldn’t appear anywhere in the manuscript except on the first title page.
• Your 50-to-90-page manuscript. Clean photocopies are acceptable.
• An acknowledgments page, for poems that have appeared previously in journals.
• A $28 non-refundable reading fee. Please make your check or money order payable to “The University of Wisconsin Press.” Do not send cash or stamps. Foreign entries: please remit reading fee in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank.
• A self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) for notification of the contest results.

First Class or Priority Mail is preferred for postal submissions. It is not necessary to send your manuscript via a Federal Express or UPS service. Questions not answered on this page may be directed to series editors Sean Bishop or Jesse Lee Kercheval. Send all other correspondence and submissions to:

Brittingham and Pollak Poetry Prizes
c/o Sean Bishop, UW Press Poetry Series Editor
Department of English
600 N. Park Street
University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI 53706

Submissions are also open for the first annual Wisconsin Prize for Poetry in Translation. Our inaugural judge is Forrest Gander, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and the translator of more than twenty books. Gander is also a winner of the Best Translated Book Award and grants from the PEN Translation Fund.

Translators or original authors are invited to submit a book-length manuscript, including all poems in both their original language and their English translation. The translations submitted must be previously unpublished in book form. Simultaneous submissions are permitted, as long as the applicant withdraws the manuscript if it is accepted elsewhere. The winning manuscript will be awarded $1,500 and will be published by the University of Wisconsin Press in the spring of 2024, alongside the winners of our annual Brittingham & Felix Pollak Prizes in Poetry. Submissions will remain open until September 15, 2022, through Submittable (click here).

Applicants are asked to confirm they hold the rights to their translations, before preparing a manuscript in pdf format, including the following:

• A simple title page, which should include the names of the original author(s) and translator(s)
• A table of contents, with accurate page numbers indicated.
• 75 to 250 pages of poetry, including all poems in both their original language and translated into English, with numbered pages.
• A biography page, including 50-to-250-word bios for each author and translator.
• A project description that addresses the book’s historical, cultural, and/or artistic significance.
• An acknowledgments page (optional, if any translations are previously published).

Brittingham & Pollak FAQ