Contest Guidelines

Please note: e-mailed submissions will not be accepted for either contest.

Tenth Annual Poetry Contest
Deadline: June 1, 2007
Judge: Susan Stewart
First Prize: $1,500

Complete guidelines: The winning poet will receive $1,500 and have his or her work published in the November/December 2007 issue of Boston Review. Submit up to five unpublished poems, no more than 10 pages total. Any poet writing in English is eligible, unless he or she is a current student, former student, or close personal friend of the judge. Manuscripts must be submitted in duplicate, with a cover note listing the author's name, address, and phone number; names should not be on the poems themselves. Simultaneous submissions are allowed if we are notified of acceptance elsewhere. Submissions will not be returned. A $20 entry fee ($30 for international submissions), payable to Boston Review, must accompany all submissions. Submissions must be postmarked no later than June 1, 2007. All entrants will receive a one-year subscription to Boston Review, beginning with the November/December 2007 issue. The winner will be announced no later than November 1, 2007, on the Boston Review Web site. Send entries to:

Poetry Contest, Boston Review, 35 Medford St., Suite 302, Somerville, MA 02143

Read winning poems from past years:
Marc Gaba (2006)
Mike Perrow (2005)
Michael Tod Edgerton [PDF] (2004)
Susan Wheeler (2003)
Max Winter (2002)
D.A. Powell (2001)
Christopher Edgar (2000)
Stephanie Strickland (1999)
Daniel Bosch (1998)


For more poetry in Boston Review, click here.

Fourteenth Annual Short-Story Contest
Deadline: October 1, 2006
Judge: George Saunders
First Prize: $1,000

Complete guidelines: The winning author will receive $1,000 and have his or her work published in the May/June 2007 issue of Boston Review. Stories should not exceed 4,000 words and must be previously unpublished. Manuscripts should be submitted with a cover note listing the author's name, address, and phone number; names should not appear on the stories themselves. Note that simultaneous submissions are not eligible. A $20 entry fee ($30 for international submissions), payable to Boston Review in the form of a check or money order, must accompany each story entered. Entrants will receive a one-year print subscription to the Review beginning with the May/June 2007 issue. Submissions must be postmarked no later than October 1, 2006. Manuscripts will not be returned. The winner will be announced no later than May 1, 2007, on the Boston Review Web site. Send submissions to:

Read winning stories from past years:
Tiphanie Yanique's "How to Escape from a Leper Colony" (2005)
Lisa Chipongian's "Intramuros" (2004)
D.S. Sulaitis's "If It's Anywhere, It's Behind Us" (2003)
Gale Renee Walden's "Men I Don’t Talk to Anymore" (2002)
Manini Nayar’s "Home Fires" (2001)
Kate Small’s "One Night a Year" (2000)
Girija Tropp’s "The Pretty Ones Have Their Uses" (2000)
Pauls Toutonghi’s "Regeneration" (1999)
Jacob M. Appel’s "Shell Game with Organs" (1998)
Kris Saknussemm’s "Unpracticed Fingers Bungle Sadly Over Tiny Feathered Bodies" (1997)
Kiki Delancey’s "Jules Jr Michael Jules Jr" (1996)
Mary Ann Jannazo’s "No Runs, No Hits, No One Left on Base" (1995)
Tom Paine’s "The Milkman & I" (1994)
Michael Dorris’s "Layaway" (1993)


For more fiction in Boston Review, click here.