Guidelines
The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is an annual award for the best unpublished book-length collection of poetry in English, in honor of native Missourian T. S. Eliot’s considerable intellectual and artistic legacy. The purpose of the T. S. Eliot Prize is to publish and promote contemporary English-language poetry, regardless of a poet’s nationality, reputation, stage in career, or publication history.
The winning author will receive $2,000 and publication of the winning collection.
Submission Guidelines
- Manuscripts should be between 60 and 100 pages of original poetry in English with each poem beginning on a separate page. Collaborations and translations are not allowed, and no handwritten manuscripts are allowed.
- Manuscripts must be unbound and placed in a plain manila file folder.
- Include two title pages with each manuscript: one with the manuscript title and the author’s contact information (name, address, phone, email), and the other with only the manuscript title. The author’s name must not appear on or within the manuscript.
- Include a table of contents and a list of acknowledgments for previously published individual poems, if applicable. Do not include images or dedications.
- Enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you want to be notified when your manuscript is received. Manuscripts will not be returned. Please do not send your only copy.
Multiple Submissions
Manuscripts may be under consideration elsewhere, but please inform TSUP if a collection is accepted for publication. More than one manuscript may be submitted to the T. S. Eliot Prize and each requires a separate fee.
Eligibility
The manuscript may include individual poems that were previously published, but may not include poems from a published chapbook or self-published book that total more than a third of the collection submitted. Current Truman State University faculty, staff, and students are not eligible to compete.
Deadline
Entries must be postmarked by October 31 each year.
Fee
Include a non-refundable reading fee of $25 for each manuscript submitted. Make check payable to Truman State University Press. To pay by credit card, please call the Press at (660) 785-7336, or submit fee online. Please reference TSE in the invoice field.
Address
Manuscript and fee should be sent to:
T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry
Truman State University Press
100 East Normal Avenue
Kirksville, MO 63501-4221
Judges
The judge will be announced after the winner has been selected.
Competition Results
Results will be posted online in February.
>via: http://tsup.truman.edu/TSEliotPrize/guidelines.asp