Black Lawrence Press accepts submissions and payment of the entry fee ($18) exclusively through our online submission manager, Submittable. We are not able to accept submissions via email or postal mail.
All entries are read without identifying information by our panel of judges and editors. All manuscripts should include a title page (listing only the title of the work), table of contents (if applicable), and when appropriate, an acknowledgments page. Manuscripts should be paginated and formatted in an easy-to-read font such as Garamond or Times New Roman. Manuscripts should be 16-36 pages in length (double-spaced for fiction and creative non-fiction), not including front and back matter (table of contents, title page, etc.). Identifying information for the author should not be included anywhere on the manuscript itself, including in the name of your file or in the “title” field in Submittable. You are welcome to include a brief bio or something about yourself in your cover note on Submittable, which will only be made accessible to the editorial panel after the group of Semi-Finalist and Finalist manuscripts has been chosen.
A note regarding previously published work: Chapbooks containing individual stories or poems that have been previously published online or in print are absolutely eligible for the BRCC–please simply note previously published work on an acknowledgments page. On the other hand, if your chapbook–or a significant portion of the work included in your chapbook–has been previously published as a book or chapbook-length collection (including publication with a press, self-publication, online/digital publication, and publication in a small, limited-edition print run), then the manuscript is not eligible for the BRCC.
- Simultaneous submissions are acceptable and encouraged, but please notify us by withdrawing your manuscript on Submittable immediately if it is accepted for publication elsewhere.
- Multiple submissions (the submission of more than one manuscript to the contest) are permitted.
- Collaborative collections are welcome.
- Hybrid/multi-genre submissions are also welcome; please enter under the submission category that best fits your work.
- Prose category: Beginning with the Spring 2019 contest, our category previously titled “fiction” has been re-categorized as “prose” to accommodate fiction, creative non-fiction, lyric essay, and prose hybrid manuscripts. (Chapbooks of prose poems and poetry/prose hybrid projects can be submitted under either poetry or prose, per your preference.)
- We cannot accept translations for the BRCC.
- We will consider submissions including visual art (i.e. interior illustrations or photographs), but please note we do not regularly publish chapbooks with interior art. Please do not include suggested cover artwork with your submission.
Contest results:
- SPRING: Finalists and semi-finalists for the spring competition are announced around the end of August each year. The winner will be announced shortly thereafter.
- FALL: Finalists and semi-finalists for the fall competition are announced around the end of January each year. The winner will be announced shortly thereafter.
Need help with our submissions manager?
Visit http://help.submittable.com
Questions about the contest? Contact Chapbook Series Editor, Lisa Fay Coutley: [email protected]
We look forward to reading your work!
JUDGING PANEL
Beginning with the Spring 2014 contest, the Black River Chapbook Competition is judged by a revolving panel of judges, in addition to the Chapbook Editor and other members of the BLP editorial staff. The judging panel is comprised of Black Lawrence chapbook authors including:
Mary Biddinger (author of Saint Monica)
Scott Frey (author of Strange Vigil)
Kamden Hilliard (author of Perceived Distance from Impact)
Elizabeth Horner Turner (author of Horsemouth and Aquariumhead)
Nick McRae (author of Mountain Redemption)
Rebecca Meacham (author of Feather Rousing)
Jessica Morey-Collins (author of We Were More Than Kindling)
Simone Muench (author of Trace and co-author of Hex & Howl)
Jessica Piazza (author of This is not a sky)
Meghann Plunkett (author of What We Did To Her Made The Water Rise)
Cate O’Toole (author of Oh My Darling)
Virgie Townsend (author of Because We Were Christian Girls)
Jackie K. White (co-author of Hex & Howl)
Jeff Whitney (author of Radio Silence)
Previous Judges:
Ashanti Anderson (author of Black Under)
Ruth Baumann (author of Retribution Binary)
Brittany Cavallaro (co-author of No Girls No Telephones)
Alan Chazaro (author of This Is Not a Frank Ocean Cover Album)
Nicole Cuffy (author of Atlas of the Body)
Jenny Drai (author of The New Sorrow is Less Than the Old Sorrow)
Ashley Morrow Hermsmeier (author of Something Like the End)
Rebecca Hazelton (co-author of No Girls No Telephones)
Kamden Hilliard (author of Perceived Distance from Impact)
Veronica Montes (author of The Conquered Sits at the Bus Stop, Waiting)
Charlotte Pence (author of The Branches, the Axe, the Missing)
Isaac Pickell (author of everything saved will be last)
Meghan Privitello (author of Notes on the End of the World)
Alison Powell (author of The Art of Perpetuation)
Matthew Raymond (author of The Muddy Season)
Nancy Reddy (author of Acadiana)
Danielle Rose (author of at first & then)
Sam Sax (author of sad boy / detective)
Philip Schaefer (author of Radio Silence)
Ryan Patrick Smith (author of The Death Metal Pastorals)
Chelsea Stickle (author of Breaking Points)
