The winners and shortlisted poets have been named here.
Prizes
1st Place: $500 + publication in print and online in Issue 16 of Into the Void
2nd Place: $100 + publication in print and online in Issue 16 of Into the Void
3rd Place: $50 + publication in print and online in Issue 16 of Into the Void
Timeline
November 1: Submissions open
January 31: Submissions close
February 7: Shortlist announced
February 14: Winners announced
Rules
- Poems must be a maximum of 60 lines, including line breaks and not including the title. The line count will be strongly enforced: poems of more than 60 lines will be rejected without refund.
- Poems must be unpublished in all formats including personal websites and blogs.
- Poems must contain no identifying information in the document or in the title of the document or in the “Title” section within Submittable as submissions are read blind in keeping with Into the Void’s ethos of fairness and equality. The blindness policy will be strongly enforced: a submission that includes identifying information will be rejected without refund.
- Simultaneous submissions are allowed but submissions must be withdrawn immediately when accepted elsewhere and will not be refunded.
- This contest is open to writers based anywhere in the world.
Judge
Adam Levon Brown is an award-winning poet, mental health advocate/sufferer, and cat lover. He is the author of six poetry books and over 350 published poems. Adam’s work has been translated into Spanish, Albanian, Arabic, and Afrikaans. He won the 2019 Blue Nib Chapbook Award, and was twice shortlisted for the Erbacce Prize for Poetry. Adam is editor-in-chief of Madness Muse Press, a literary publishing press dedicated to enacting social change through the power of writing. He also volunteers as part of the social media team for the Oregon Poetry Association.
Adam is the author of poetry collection Break (Poetic Justice Books, 2019), a raw exploration of mental illness layered in self-reflection and introspection which simultaneously brings the reader to an awareness of their own vulnerability and humanity, awakening poet and reader to the reality of the world around us.
“A stirring exploration of trauma and healing…The collection’s greatest strength is the author’s wrenching honesty; it takes courage to reveal the realities of psychic pain, and these poems are braver than most in that regard.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Powerful and moving…Constructed in a vivid, free style verse, Brown’s poems bleed anguish and heartbreak and his feelings of desperation and powerlessness show the reality of mental illness.”
—The Prairies Book Review
“Each piece speaks of the fragility of emotions, relationships, life influences, and states of mind. Each poem provides a piece to a puzzle, juxtaposed with each other to support a bigger picture. Break is recommended not only for poetry and literary collections, but as a reflective piece for mental patients and their families.”
—Midwest Book Review
“Adam Levon Brown’s remarkable collection, Break, shaped as a connected series of poems of address, takes us with shaking hand and clear voice through the heart of family trauma, into the life that must cope with its consequences, and salvage from the nearly final wreckage the means not only of survival, but transcendence. It is a gift of light derived through confrontation, narrative inquiry, persistent yearning to say what is needed, and an arrival at voice that eclipses the narrative project. The poem-by-poem evolution of language matching with near perfection voice, leg by leg, to journey elevates this collection from remembrance to gift.”
—Marc Zegans, author of La Commedia Sotterranea
Buy Break here
Fee
Each entry of a single poem costs CA$6 (US$4.50). There is no limit to entries per person. The money received from entries will go toward the prize money and judge’s payment, and anything extra will be used to cover the many costs of running Into the Void. None of the money received will go to any of the editors or staff of Into the Void. Each entry comes with a free one-year online subscription to Into the Void which provides full access to our website including past issues and the four forthcoming issues of the subscription year.
Submit
Submit one poem of up to 60 lines including line breaks per entry at the button below. In submitting to the competition you are giving Into the Void First World Publication Rights should your poem be a winner. All rights revert back to the author immediately following publication.
**N.B. All entries are read blind. Do not include any identifying information anywhere in the document or in the document name or in the “Title” section in Submittable.**