Berkshire Prize

2024 Berkshire Prize for a First or Second Book of Poetry

Submission period: January 1st — April 30th (postmark or online submission-date)

EXTENDED DEADLINE: MAY 31ST, 2024

Final Judge: Matthew Rohrer
Prize:  $3,000

The Berkshire Prize for a First or Second Book of Poetry includes a cash award of $3,000 in addition to publication by Tupelo Press, 20 copies of the winning title, a book launch, and national distribution with energetic publicity and promotion. Manuscripts are judged anonymously and all finalists will be considered for publication. Please read the complete guidelines before submitting your manuscript.

Matthew Rohrer is the author of ten books of poems, most recently THE SKY CONTAINS THE PLANS, published by Wave Books. THE OTHERS won the Believer Book Award, A GREEN LIGHT was shortlisted for the Griffin International Poetry Prize, and his first book A HUMMOCK IN THE MALOOKAS was selected by Mary Oliver for the National Poetry Series.  Rohrer attended The University of Michigan, University College Dublin and the Iowa Writers Workshop. He was a co-founder of Fence Magazine and has taught writing at NYU for many years. One of his tattoos has appeared in two books of literary tattoos. He lives in Brooklyn.


Prize Guidelines

Who May Submit

The Berkshire Prize is open to anyone writing in the English language, whether living in the United States or abroad. Translations are not eligible for this prize, nor are previously self-published books. Employees of Tupelo Press and authors with books previously published by Tupelo Press are not eligible. Poets submitting work for consideration may be authors having published only one previous collection or writers without prior book publications.

We continue to be impressed by the quality of work we see and generally receive many, many more worthy manuscripts than we are able to publish. In addition, each of our contests and reading periods has a different team of editors, guest editors, esteemed readers, and final judge. And of course our tastes and needs evolve from year to year with each production schedule. For all of these reasons and more, please know you are welcome to submit your manuscript even if you have already entered it in one or more of our contests or reading periods in the past, and even if you have a manuscript pending in a recent submission opportunity. Thank you for honoring us with your work — we’re excited to see what wonders arrive over the transom.


Manuscript Requirements & Ethical Guidelines

Submit a previously unpublished, full-length poetry manuscript with a table of contents. There is no mandatory page count. We suggest in the area of 48 to 88 pages of poems, but all manuscripts will be read and considered with full respect, regardless of length, and no manuscript will be rejected simply because it’s shorter or longer.

If you are submitting a manuscript online, within the document include a single cover page with the title of the manuscript only, so that your manuscript document remains anonymous. Submittable provides fields to fill in your contact information: name, address, telephone number, and email address.

If you are submitting a paper manuscript, include two cover pages: one with the title of the manuscript only, the other with title of manuscript, name, address, telephone number, and email address. Cover letters or biography notes are optional; if included, these will not be read until the conclusion of the contest.

Individual poems in a contest manuscript may have been previously published in magazines, journals, or anthologies, or chapbooks, but the work as a whole must be unpublished. If applicable, include with your manuscript an acknowledgments page for prior publications.

Simultaneous submissions to other publishers or contests are permitted, as long as you notify Tupelo Press promptly if a manuscript is accepted elsewhere.

Kindly note that poets who have personal relationships, current or recent student-teacher or mentoring relationships with the contest judge, or who have attended a program at the same time that the contest judge served on faculty, are not eligible for this prize. Likewise, poets are ineligible where it is reasonably likely that the contest judge will recognize your work. 

Before you submit a manuscript to a Tupelo Press competition, please consider exploring the work of the poets we have published. We’re drawn to technical virtuosity combined with abundant imagination; memorable, vivid imagery and strikingly musical approaches to language; willingness to take risks; and an ability to convey penetrating insights into human experience.

Tupelo Press endorses and abides by the Ethical Guidelines of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP), which can be reviewed here, along with more about Tupelo Press’s ethical considerations for literary contests.

Guidelines for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Content:

We generally do not accept writing or translations generated with AI software because Tupelo Press and Tupelo Quarterly are venues for intentional and thoughtful human creativity. If your work quotes lines generated by AI software (for example, with a reference to another text or published work), you must clearly acknowledge any intellectual borrowing. We understand and appreciate that some interesting creative work is being done that explores and exploits these technologies, but we will only consider such work if it explicitly acknowledges the means by which it was generated.

Notification of Receipt

To confirm receipt of your paper manuscript, include a self-addressed stamped postcard. The online Submittable system automatically confirms receipt.

Beyond these notifications, kindly refrain from requesting an individual response to confirm receipt of your manuscript and/or payment. We receive thousands of manuscripts each year and cannot offer individual acknowledgments. Thank you for your understanding.

Please do not enclose a SASE for return of manuscript. All paper manuscripts will be recycled at the conclusion of the competition, except those under consideration for future publication.


Notification of Results

To receive mailed notification of the winner and finalists, send a self-addressed stamped envelope.

Results will be announced in late summer. We notify all entrants in three ways:

  • Via postal mail to those who included a SASE with their manuscript.
  • Via email to those who included an email address with their contact information.
  • We post the results on our website.

Deadline

All entries must be postmarked or certified by Submittable by midnight (EST) of April 30th, 2024.

EXTENDED DEADLINE: MAY 31ST, 2024


Reading Fee

A reading fee of $30 (U.S.) must accompany each submission. Multiple submissions are accepted, so long as each submission is accompanied by a separate reading fee. Why a reading fee? We are an independent, nonprofit literary press. Reading fees help defray, but do not entirely cover, the cost of reviewing manuscripts and publishing the many books we select outside of our competitions.

Entry fees to our contests support community outreach, mentorship programs, the creation of new opportunities for diverse writers, and many other important ongoing initiatives:  the National Tupelo Teen Writing Program; the creation of free, downloadable readers’ guides and teaching materials for all new books; scholarships to attend Tupelo Press Seminars; and funded writing retreats for prize-winners.

If you are submitting your manuscript online, you will be prompted to pay via Submittable.

If you are mailing your manuscript to us, please enclose a check or money order for the reading fee, payable to Tupelo Press.


Submit Your Manuscript

There are two ways to submit your manuscript:

  • Via Submittable: Submit Beginning on January 1. Be sure that your document is complete and formatted correctly before uploading.
  • Via postal mail. Tupelo Press encourages online submissions to save paper but we still welcome mailed manuscripts.
 Be sure to include your check or money order.

Mail your domestic submission to: Tupelo Press Berkshire Prize, PO Box 1767, North Adams, MA 01247

Mail your international submission to: Tupelo Press Berkshire Prize, 60 Roberts Drive, Ste 308, North Adams MA 01247 USA


See our past prize winners >>

Check out other opportunities to submit your work!>>