Yale Series Open For 2004 Younger Poets Competition

NEW HAVEN — Each year, Yale University Press seeks one book-length poetry manuscript to be published in the Yale Series of Younger Poets. The competition is open to any American citizen under forty years of age who has not published a book of poetry. The winner receives royalties when the book is published.

All poems must be original; translations are not accepted. Writers who have had chapbooks of poetry printed in editions of no more than 300 copies are eligible. Only one manuscript may be submitted each year. Manuscripts submitted in previous years may be resubmitted.

There is no application form. The following guidelines must be followed when preparing a manuscript:

1. The manuscript must be a minimum of 48 numbered pages and a maximum of 64 numbered pages in length. All manuscripts must be paginated. Each new poem must start a new page.

2. The manuscript should begin with unnumbered frontmatter: a title page that shows the book’s title and the author’s name, address, telephone number, and email address (if available); a table of contents; and (if applicable) a list of acknowledgments.

3. Begin paginating the manuscript after the frontmatter. If the book is divided into parts or has an epigraph, Page 1 will be the first part title or the epigraph. Otherwise, Page 1 will be the first poem.

4. In formatting the manuscript, make legibility the first concern. If you using a word processor, select a standard typeface (such as Bodoni, Garamond, or Times New Roman) in at least 10-point type. Manuscripts may be single spaced, double spaced, or 1.5 spaced. Manuscripts may be prepared on a typewriter instead of a word processor. Handwritten manuscripts will not be accepted.

5. A brief biography may appear at the end of the manuscript. The information is not required and, if submitted, need not be included in the page count.

6. Do not bind or staple the manuscript. Place the loose sheets in a plain envelope of appropriate size.

Send the manuscript to Yale Series of Younger Poets, PO Box 209040, New Haven CT 06520-9040. Include a check or money order for $15 made out to Yale University Press. Do not send cash.

Submissions for the 2004 Competition must be postmarked no earlier than October 1 and no later than November 15, 2003.

Do not send the only copy of a work. Manuscripts cannot be returned after the competition. Authors wishing wish receipt of their manuscript to be acknowledged should include a stamped, self-addressed postcard. Authors wishing to be informed, in June, of the contest results, should also include a stamped, self-addressed envelope.

For more information write to Yale Series of Younger Poets, PO Box 209040, New Haven CT 06520-9040.