Submit to the Brittingham
& Felix Pollak Prizes in Poetry

Submissions will open in July 2021 for the Brittingham Prize in Poetry and the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry, 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 early 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, and at least three additional manuscripts will be offered publication as part of the University of Wisconsin Press’s Wisconsin Poetry Series. There are no restrictions on the kind of poetry or subject matter, although translations are not acceptable.

Only manuscripts uploaded by September 15 will be considered, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot consider postal submissions this year. The manuscript must be previously unpublished in book form. Poems published in journals, chapbooks, and anthologies may be included, but must be acknowledged. All submissions must be typed, in a single-spaced 8.5" x 11" document, 50–to-90 manuscript pages in length. Pages should be numbered. 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 Editors of the manuscript’s acceptance for publication elsewhere, and to withdraw the manuscript via Submittable if applicable.

Online submissions 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.

This Year’s Judge:
Carmen Giménez Smith

We are thrilled to announce that this year’s Brittingham & Felix Pollak Prizes in Poetry will be selected by Carmen Giménez Smith. Smith is a former Guggenheim Fellow and the author of a memoir and six poetry collections, including Milk and Filth, a finalist for the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award in poetry and Be Recorder, a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN Open Book Award. She was awarded an American Book Award for Bring Down the Little Birds and the Juniper Prize for Poetry for her collection Goodbye, Flicker. She is the publisher of Noemi Press. With Steph Burt, she is the poetry editor of The Nation.

• Q: Who is this year's judge?  A: This year’s judge will be National Book Award Finalist Carmen Giménez Smith. In the past, judges were kept confidential until winners were announced. Those judges included Natasha Trethewey, Carl Phillips, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Robert Wrigley, Susan Mitchell, Denise Duhamel, Lucia Perillo, Terrance Hayes, Jean Valentine, Cornelius Eady, Robert Pinsky, Marilyn Nelson, Maxine Kumin, Philip Levine, and many others.
• Q: Who is eligible to win these prizes?  A: Anyone. As long as the manuscript meets the criteria outlined above, any author may win either prize. Previous winners of either the Brittingham or Pollak are not eligible to win the same prize twice, but may be awarded the other prize for a second collection. Previous winners of either prize may also be considered for the Four Lakes Prize in Poetry.
• Q: Do I need to send two manuscripts, or submit two payments, to be considered for both prizes?  A: No. Every submission is considered for both prizes. Your submission should include just one $28 payment.
• Q: I have more than one manuscript—can I submit more than one each year?  A: Yes. But please upload two separate submissions online, or send your submissions in separate envelopes, with separate checks and separate SASEs.
• Q: Will you notify me when my submission is received?  A: Unfortunately we cannot. If you wish to make sure your submission is received, we recommend you use our online submissions manager, which will allow you to log back in to check the status of your submission. Alternately, if you need reassurance that your postal submission has been received, you may send it via certified mail.
• Q: What's the difference between the Brittingham Prize and the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry?  A: The prizes are effectively identical; there is no first and second place.
• Q: How are the prizes awarded? How are the manuscripts judged?  A: The University of Wisconsin Press and series editors Ron Wallace and Sean Bishop employ a team of readers which changes each year, though this team typically consists—in part—of University of Wisconsin Creative Writing faculty and Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing fellows. Every manuscript is read by at least two different screeners, and manuscripts that make it to the semi-finalist and finalist rounds are read by at least three different screeners. Twenty to thirty manuscripts are then given to the judge, who chooses two winners.
• Q: When can I expect a response?  A: We notify all submitters of their status no later than February 15; we appreciate your patience as we make our decisions.