The St. Lawrence Book Award

Black Lawrence Press accepts submissions and payment of the entry fee ($28) exclusively through our online submission manager, Submittable. We are not able to accept submissions via email or postal mail.

Entries are read blind by senior Black Lawrence Press editors and a rotating panel of former St. Lawrence Book Award winners. Recent members of the judging panel include:

Jody Chan, author of Sick

Max McDonough, author of Python with a Dog Inside It

Yelitzaveta P Renfro, author of A Catalogue of Everything in the World

Brad Ricca, author of American Mastadon

Leigh Camacho Rourks, author of Moon Trees and Other Orphans

Kim Sousa, author of Always a Relic Never a Reliquary

KMA Sullivan, author of Necessary Fire

Shubha Sunder, author of Boomtown Girl

Anna B Sutton, author of Savage Flower

Jason Tandon, author of Give Over the Heckler and Everyone Gets Hurt

Katie Umans, author of Flock Book

Manuscripts should include a title page (listing only the title of the work), table of contents, 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 45-95 pages in length (poetry) or 120-280 pages in length (prose), 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. 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.

Manuscripts containing individual stories, essays, or poems that have been previously published online or in print are absolutely eligible–please simply note previously published work on an acknowledgments page. On the other hand, if your manuscript has been previously published as a 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.

• 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.

Need help with our submissions manager?
Visit http://help.submittable.com

We look forward to reading your work!