2024 Poetry Book Prize Opens 8/1!

The 2024 Perugia Press Prize contest for a first or second book of poetry by a woman will be open for submissions from August 1-November 15, 2023. We’ll be accepting submissions of full-length poetry collections from women-identifying poets who have previously published no more than one full-length collection. See the contest tab for full guidelines and a link to our Submittable page.

Announcing an increase in our support for poets:

For many years, the Perugia Press Prize has come with not only publication and general support, but also with an honorarium of $1,000 and 10 author copies. Beginning with the 2024 contest, we are able to increase the honorarium the winning poet receives to $2,000 and the author copies the poet receives to 20 copies. We are able to offer this increased support with the help of a grant from the Mass Cultural Council, for which we are deeply grateful.

We continue to offer submission fee options:

Submission fees are integral to our operations and go directly toward the mission and work of our independent, nonprofit literary press. In an effort to remove barriers and make submissions more accessible for all, Perugia Press asks poets to choose the submission rate that works for them: $30 (w/free book), $15 (reduced rate), or fee-free (for poets who are Black, Indigenous, and women of color).

Until Perugia Press achieves more equitable representation, we’ll offer a fee-free submission option for BIWOC poets. This is a reparation and not an assumption of financial need; we intend to do our part to repay BIWOC poets for the extra time and energy it takes to navigate systemic racism in the publishing industry while we help work to dismantle it. A poet’s mode of submitting will have no bearing on our consideration of their manuscript.

We look forward to reading the work sent our way, and we thank you for your support!