Stillhouse Press

Ecopoetry Collection Contest Guidelines

Prize: $500

Reading Period: Monday, November 1, 2022, 12am EST - Friday, March 31st, 2023, 11:59pm EST

Fee: $25/submission (reading fee is non-refundable)

Stillhouse looks for work driven by voice and built on a strong compositional foundation. We are looking for a collection of poetry that explores the environment via place. In relation to the environment, we define place as both the geographical location and natural landscape of an area, but also the history of human presence (and before human presence) in an area. In a collection, we are looking for poems that fit under the umbrella of eco-poetry: poems about ecology, the natural world, science, the climate crisis, and the environmental imagination. Overall, we hope for collections that take a creative interest in the interactions between humans and the environment and engage these topics in nuanced ways.

ANNOUNCING OUR JUDGE: KERRI WEBSTER

Kerri Webster is the author of four books of poetry: Lapis (Wesleyan University Press, 2022), The Trailhead (Wesleyan, 2018), Grand & Arsenal (winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize, University of Iowa, 2012), and We Do Not Eat Our Hearts Alone (University of Georgia, 2005). She has taught at Washington University in St. Louis and Boise State University, and as a Writer in the Schools for the Cabin, a literary nonprofit in Idaho. The recipient of a Whiting Award and the Lucille Medwick Award from the Poetry Society of America, she lives and writes in Idaho.

Rules

• Only complete manuscripts of poetry will be considered. Poems within the collection can be any length and follow any form.
• Our ideal manuscript is between 50-75 pages; please include page count in the top right corner of the first page. Any manuscripts over 90 pages will be automatically declined.
• All submissions will be considered for publication. Prize does not guarantee publication.
• Simultaneous submissions are allowed. Please notify us immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
• Please attach manuscripts in either Word .doc or PDF format.
• All manuscripts should include a query letter and a synopsis with an overview of the work. Authors are also invited to share information about their writing background, online presence, involvement with the writing community, and inspiration for their work.
• While we will accept collections with individually published poems, the majority of the work should not be previously published.
• All work must be original; translations will not be accepted.
• Stillhouse Press cannot consider work from anyone currently or recently affiliated with the guest judge.
• Entries will only be accepted online via Stillhouse Press’ Submittable page; no hard copies or email submissions will be accepted. We offer fee-free submissions for authors who have a financial need. Fee waivers can be requested through the contact form on our website.
• We are unable to consider agented submissions at this time.
• Deadline for final submissions is 11:59 p.m. EST, Friday, March 31st, 2023.
• Any work that does not follow the aforementioned guidelines will be immediately rejected and disqualified.

Stillhouse looks for works driven by voice and built on a strong compositional foundation. We are not necessarily looking for work that fits strict traditional modes, and we especially enjoy familiar subjects presented through unfamiliar perspectives or those which defy easy categorization or definition. At this time, we are only considering novel submissions. No short story collections, flash collections, or nonfiction should be submitted through this portal. No conventional genre fiction, please.

Our team is looking for Speculative Fiction rooted in Literary Fiction themes and ideas. Our goal is to publish novels that combine real-world elements with speculative themes along the lines of Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven, Matt Haig's The Midnight Library, and Margret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. We do not seek contest entries that adhere to standard conventions of fantasy or science fiction (or to the conventions of standard “workshop fiction” or other well-established non-speculative genres, for that matter). 

** Please note: Manuscript submissions that do not meet current submission guidelines will be automatically declined.**

Guidelines

• We take time in considering all of our submissions. If you have not received a response within six months of submitting, your submission is still under editor review. We appreciate your patience as we carefully review each submission.
• Only complete, full-length manuscripts will be considered. Our ideal manuscript is between 50,000 – 100,000 words for prose; please include word count in the top right corner of the first page for all prose submissions.
• All manuscripts should include a query letter and synopsis or overview of the work.
• Authors are also invited to share information about their writing background, online presence, involvement with the writing community, and inspiration for their submission.
• Simultaneous submissions are allowed. Please notify us immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
• All attachments should be in either PDF or Word.doc formats.
• All work must be original. Translations will not be accepted.
• Submissions will only be accepted through Submittable. Paper and email submissions are not accepted. If you have any questions, please use the contact form on our website.  
• There is a $5 fee/submission for regular submissions. (Does not include contest submissions. Please refer to Contest FAQ for fee information.) We offer fee-free submissions for authors who have a financial need. Fee waivers can be requested through the contact form on our website. 
• We are unable to accept agented submissions at this time.