Raleigh Review Poetry Prize

 (Guidelines Updated as of 08 July 2025)

 ​​​​The 2026 Raleigh Review Laux & Millar Poetry Book Prize Guidelines​

​​Book Prize 

JUDGING

• We seek unpublished first or second poetry book manuscripts (48-60 pages).
• Following our magazine selections, the prize winning book will initially be combined with the Fall magazine issue in even years, beginning with 2026. This initial printing will either be through an addendum within the issue of the full poetry book or an excerpt with a featured section within the magazine. After the high quality full-color printing run via our printer partner in downtown Raleigh happens, the secondary printing and distribution of the prize winning print and also the e-book will then follow with an aim of releasing the main book publication on the anniversary of Raleigh Review for the following year, 21st of February 2027. 

• STANDARD ENTRY FEE: $15 USD per manuscript.

• There is a no questions asked fee free pathway limited to those who cannot afford the standard fee.
  
• The Raleigh Review poetry team & publisher will serve as preliminary judges.
  
• The judge of the finalists will be Tyree Daye.

PRIZES

• First or Second Poetry Book Prize includes $500 USD and book publication inside the prize issue, both print and online. Outside of the $500 USD prize, there are no author royalties being offered at this time. 

• We might, we likely will, consider accepting individual poems from the prize submissions, cherry picking and plucking poems that we must have from the manuscripts for the magazine from Finalists and Honorable Mentions. In these cases, finalists and honorable mentions will also be considered for publication and standard payment of $15 per poem we accept and publish.

• All Finalists and Honorable Mentions will receive a 2-year subscription to Raleigh Review.

• International winners, those based outside the US, will receive payment
  in copies of the book prize/Raleigh Review issue combo.

GUIDELINES

• Off-season queue is usually always open outside of the standard contest season. 
• Standard contest season opens on November 1, 2025 (via Duosuma) fee free submission based on financial hardship, the tip jar is optional.
• Also open January 1, 2026 on Submittable.
• Deadline is June 1, 2026 at midnight EST on Submittable.
• Duosuma deadline is December 31, 2025.
• We reserve the right to close submission pathways at anytime.
• Submit an unpublished poetry manuscript from 48-60 pages per entry.
• Our magazine is a 6" x 9" size, and the poetry book prize will be a 5" x 8" size on a soft-touch hardcover so be sure to use appropriate line breaks or at least know that Raleigh Review handles both the selection and the design, and Fernwood Press will handle the printing and distribution via Ingram. 
• All submitted manuscripts should have a table of contents.
• If the poems inside the manuscript were curated elsewhere do let us know in an acknowledgement section.
• Attached files should be free of personal identifiers such as name, address, phone and email, social media handles, etc. 
• Simultaneous submissions are acceptable. 
• Failure to meet guidelines may result in disqualification.
• This contest is open to poets who reside in the USA (regardless of immigration status).
• Those outside the USA are most welcome to submit to this prize though payment for any winners of our contests who happen to be based outside the USA will be in copies of the Raleigh Review prize issue since we are not permitted to mail checks outside our own country.

Selected by Dorianne Laux & Joseph Millar (2024)

Winner: 

Andrew Payton for his poem "Descalzo."

Finalists: 

John Mulcare, Mary Ann Samyn, and Sonya Schneider.

All four poems will appear in our forthcoming fall issue.

Selected by Dorianne Laux & Joseph Millar (2022)

Winner: 
"The Fever's Children" by Allison Blevins and Joshua Davis

Finalists:
"To our firsts" by Allison Blevins and Joshua Davis
"Another name for weather" by Loisa Fenichell
"Touching" by Loisa Fenichell
"The first letter at the beginning of the end" by Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach

​​Selected by Dorianne Laux & Joseph Millar (2021)

Winner:
"Stag" by Chris Ketchum

Chris Ketchum's poem "Stag" was selected because of: 
"Its well made lines and clean language, as well as its sensuality
and the nature of its associations." -Dorianne Laux & Joseph Millar

Finalists: 
"Living Room" by Michael Dhyne 
"Alma" by Lauren Green 
"Orpheus" by Lauren Green
"First Love" by Aimee Seu
​​​​​​​

​Selected by Dorianne Laux & Joseph Millar (2020)

Winner:
"And it Don't Stop" by Darius Simpson 

Finalists:
"One Way Sunset" by Alaina Bainbridge
"Haystacks" by Kabel Mishka Ligot
"What I Tell Myself" by Cameron McGill
"Last Call" by Darius Simpson

​

​Selected by Dorianne Laux & Joseph Millar (2019)

Winner:

"Iguana Iguana" by Caylin Capra-Thomas

"We love "iguana, Iguana".  What a glorious ride. We love her use of the "controlling image."  Every time we think she's making a leap away from the iguana, she returns to it with a vengeance.  This poem goes so many places, has so much humor and humanity, so much muchness and toughness and tenderness and forgiveness.  Of everything and everyone.  Jim and Sylvester and William, no-see-ums and mothers, good and bad boyfriends, stray cats and dead birds, dancing pecs and death. Damn, we're impressed." -Dorianne Laux & Joseph Millar

Finalists:
"At the Bar" by Cameron McGill
"The Land in Both Our Names" by Suzanne Grove
"After Watching The Quiet Man" by Hannah Dow
​"Sertraline" by Emily Nason

Selected by Dorianne Laux & Joseph Millar (2018)

Winner:
"Forever Daylight" by John Sibley Williams

Honorable Mentions:
"Four Sonnets" by Bailey Cohen [2nd]

"Lightning Flowers" by Emily Mohn-Slate [3rd]

Finalists:
"Other women don't tell you" by Julia Dasbach
"Keloid Scar" by Julia Dasbach
"Sometimes I Pretend the Daughter I Wanted Was Born Alive" by Chelsea Dingman
"After You Have Gone" by Chelsea Dingman

Selected by Dorianne Laux & Joseph Millar (2017)

Winner:
"Poem for My Unborn Daughter" by Kristin Robertson

Honorable Mention:
"All Is Wild, All Is Silent" by Jenna Bazzell

Finalists:
"Reasons to Return Home" by Emily Paige Wilson
"How Not to Remember Your Mother" by Emily Rose Cole
"The Speaker's Prayer" by Jenna Bazzell 
"Erratic transcription of notes taken at a refugee camp in Anse-A-Pitre, Haiti." 

by Mario Ariza