Guidelines
Jan. 1 through Feb. 15
March 15 through May 1
Interview and Critical Essay Submission Deadline:
August 31
Questions about submissions, contact:
NCLR's submission process is entirely online. Go to the online submissions page to get started.
James Applewhite Poetry Prize
First Prize $250 and publication in nclr
Sponsored by a grant from the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation
NCLR considers poetry submissions only through The James Applewhite Poetry Prize Competition. Submission period: March 15–May 1. Finalists will be considered for publication in NCLR.
Eligibility Criteria & Submission Guidelines
- The James Applewhite Poetry Prize competition is open to any writer who fits the NCLR definition of a North Carolina writer: anyone who currently lives in North Carolina, has lived in North Carolina, or uses North Carolina as subject matter.
- Poets may submit between March 15 and May 1: up to 3 poems for a $15 entry fee, up to 5 poems for a $20 entry fee (checks payable to NCLR).
- Submit poems in a single Word file, electronically at https://nclr.submittable.com/submit before midnight May 1.
Contact NCLR’s Submission Assistant if you have any questions about the electronic submission process.
- Submit all poems in a single Word or .rtf file. The author's name should not appear in the file. Name the file with the title of the first poem.
- The submission fee is waived for NCLR subscribers and members of the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association.* You can subscribe to NCLR with your submission. Or join NCLHA at this link: http://www.history.ncdcr.gov/affiliates/lit-hist/membership/membership.htm.
* Members of the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association receive both the NCLR and the North Carolina Historical Review as part of their membership fees.
NCLR Poetry Editor Jeffrey Franklin will select poems to be published in the next year’s issue from the submissions to this competition. James Applewhite will choose the winning poem from these finalists.
The winner and finalists will be publicly announced in September at the Eastern North Carolina Literary Homecoming, held annually at East Carolina University in Greenville. All who submit will also receive notification of the competition results via email; you do not need to be present to participate in the competition. A press release will be posted on the NCLR website and on NCLR’s Facebook page, as well as sent out to the media.
The winning poem and select finalists will be published in the following year’s issue of the North Carolina Literary Review. The authors of the published poems will receive two complimentary copies of the issue in which their poem(s) appear(s).
Questions may be directed to the NCLR Submissions Assistant or to the NCLR Editor.