The New Issues Poetry Prize and The Green Rose Prize are currently on hiatus. Please check back in fall of 2023 for submission opportunities. 

Poetry Prizes

The New Issues Poetry Prize, an award for a first book of poems, is chosen by a guest judge. Past judges have included Philip Levine, C.D. Wright, and Cathy Park Hong.

The press accepts hard copy submissions sent to: New Issues Poetry & Prose, 1903 W. Michigan Ave., Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5463, or electronic submissions through Submittable.

New Issues does not read manuscripts outside of our contests. Graduate students in the Ph.D. and M.F.A. programs at Western Michigan University often volunteer their time reading manuscripts. Finalists are chosen by the editors.

Fiction Prizes

Please visit the AWP website for guidelines to submit to the AWP Award Series in the Novel contest. The only fiction submissions we consider are those submitted through the AWP Award for the Novel. 

Submission Guidelines

  • Eligibility: Poets writing in English who have not previously published or self-published a full-length collection (40+ pages) of poems.
  • Please include a $25 reading fee. Checks should be made payable to New Issues Press.
  • Postmark Deadline: December 30, 2019. The winning manuscript will be named in June 2020 and published in 2021.
  • Submit a manuscript at least 40 pages in length. Include a brief bio, relevant publication information, cover page with name, address, phone number, and title of the manuscript, and a page with only the title.
  • For notification of title and author of the winning manuscript enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Manuscripts will be recycled.
  • A manuscript may be submitted that is being considered elsewhere but New Issues should be notified upon the manuscript’s acceptance elsewhere.
  • Click here to submit online: Submittable

Send manuscripts and queries to:

The New Issues Poetry Prize
Western Michigan University
1903 West Michigan Ave.
Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5463