Poets are invited to compete for the National Poetry Month Prize, sponsored by the award-winning Aquarius Press. The competition runs the entire month of April. Poets at all levels are welcome. The winner will receive a $500 cash prize, publication by Aquarius Press and 10 author copies.

All entries will be read blind by our panel of editors. Manuscripts should include a title page (listing only the title of the work), table of contents, and when appropriate, an acknowledgments page. Manuscripts should be paginated and formatted in an easy-to-read font such as Garamond or Times New Roman in pdf format. Manuscripts should be 45-88 pages in length, not including front and back matter (table of contents, title page, etc.). Identifying information for the author should not be included anywhere on the manuscript itself. You are welcome to include a brief bio or something about yourself in your cover note, which will only be made accessible to the editorial panel after the group of Semi-Finalist and Finalist manuscripts has been chosen.

Manuscripts containing individual stories, essays, or poems that have been previously published online or in print are eligible–please simply note previously published work on an acknowledgments page. On the other hand, if your manuscript has been previously published as a collection (including publication with a press, self-publication, online/digital publication, and publication in a small, limited-edition print run), then the manuscript is not eligible.

• Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but please notify us by withdrawing your manuscript immediately if it is accepted for publication elsewhere.
• Multiple submissions (the submission of more than one manuscript to the contest) are permitted but a separate fee applies.
• Prize awarded upon publication.

We look forward to reading your work!

NOMMO Anthology

Poets and writers are invited to submit work to our new anthology. We accept all genres of work, including poetry, fiction drama and experimental, as long as it has Afrofuturism as the focus. Some definitions include: 

"Afrofuturism is a way of looking at the future and alternate realities through a Black cultural lens. Black cultural lens means the people of the African continent in addition to the Diaspora, the Americas, Europe, etc. It is an artistic aesthetic, but also a kind of method of self-liberation or self-healing. It can be part of critical race theory and in other respects its an epistemology as well. It intersects the imagination, technology, Black culture, liberation, and mysticism. An an artistic aesthetic it bridges literature, music, visual arts, film, and dance. As a mode of self-healing and self-liberation, it's the use of imagination that is most significant because it helps people to transform their circumstances. Imagining oneself in the future creates agency and it's significant because historically people of African descent were not always incorporated into many of the storylines about the future."--Ytasha Womack, author of Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci Fi & Fantasy Culture (2013).

Poetry:  Submit no more than three poems

Fiction/Nonfiction/Drama:  Submit no more than 3,500 words

Contributors whose work have been accepted will be notified via email.

Payment is one copy of the anthology.

Contributors will be invited to readings for the anthology.

The editorial team reserves the right to reject a submission for any reason.