2010
Bull City Press First Book Prize
Call
for Manuscripts
April 1, 2010 - August 1, 2010
The 2010 Bull City Press First Book Prize honors a book of
individual poetry in English
by a single author; translations and collaborative works are not
eligible for this award. The winning poet will receive 50
copies
of
the published book. A list of the winner and finalists will
be
listed
on the Bull City Press web site.
The 2010 Bull City Press First Book Prize will be judged by an
editorial board consisting of executive director Ross White, managing
editor
Marielle Prince, and Matthew Olzmann.
The winning volume will be published in 2011 by Bull City Press.
ELIGIBILITY
The 2010 Bull City Press First Book Prize is open to any poet
writing in English who
has not previously published a book-length collection of
poetry.
Simultaneous submissions are permissible, but entrants are asked to
notify Bull City Press immediately if a manuscript becomes committed
elsewhere.
Please do not submit to this contest if you are close enough to a
member of the editorial board that his/her integrity or the integrity
of Bull City Press would be called into question should you be selected
as the
winner. You may query us if you have questions regarding this matter.
Please query by email
to submissions bullcitypress.com.
SUBMITTING
YOUR MANUSCRIPT
Entries must be submitted between April 1, 2010 and August 1,
2010. All
entries must be submitted to our online submissions manager.
Entries
submitted by e-mail, fax, or US mail are not permitted and will be
disqualified. Entries must be accompanied by a $20 entry fee,
payable through PayPal. Entrants may submit multiple
manuscripts,
but must pay a $20 entry fee for each manuscript submitted.
Manuscripts should be 48 to 100 pages of poetry,
consecutively numbered, single-spaced, and should include a table of
contents. Manuscripts should be submitted in rich text (.rtf)
or
Microsoft Word (.doc) format only. Manuscripts submitted in
another
file format are not permitted and will be disqualified. Manuscript
revisions are not permitted during the contest.
The author's name should not appear on the manuscript.
To submit your manuscript, please follow these steps:
- Click on the "Pay Now"
button below.
- Complete your payment
with PayPal.
- After completing your
payment, you will be returned to the
contest submission website at
http://bullcitypress.com/submissions/contest.php.
PayPal will send a
confirmation to your e-mail address.
Copy the Unique
Transaction ID from that
e-mail.
- Fill in all contact
information.
- Fill in the title of
the manuscript you are submitting.
- Under genre, select
"2010 contest manuscript ($20 entry fee
required)."
- Use the browse button
to find the file on your computer that
you would like to submit. Select the file and click on the open
button. Your file will then appear in the "file" field.
- Paste your Unique Transaction ID from
PayPal into
comments field with any additional information you'd like to send, then
click submit.
- You
will then have the option to review your information and
confirm that it is correct. Hit continue
and you're done.
OUR
READING PROCESS
Each manuscript is delivered to our preliminary readers as a blind
submission. That is, it is stripped of identifying material. Only the
manuscript, inclusive of any text notes, is sent to the readers and, if
chosen as a semi-finalist, to the editorial board. Preliminary readers
are asked to notify the press if the work in a submitted manuscript is
familiar to them, in which case it will be reassigned as a blind
submission to another reader.
Our preliminary readers for the contest are selected by the publisher
of Bull City Press and are published poets, experienced editors, and/or
poets who have received a graduate degree in creative writing or
literature. Our readers look for beautifully-crafted work, manuscripts
that have a cohesive shape and feel like complete volumes.
They
look to
present a wide range of excellent work to the editorial board.
Semi-finalists are notified in September that their work will be sent
on
to the editorial board. The editorial board may, at its discretion, ask
to review additional manuscripts-- they are not allowed to ask for work
by a specific writer, but may ask to see a wider sampling of strong
work. If that is the case, additional manuscripts are sent by reviewers
to the editorial board as semi-finalists. Therefore, we do not inform
the public of semi-finalist selections since that list may grow after
September.
The editorial board will immediately report conflicts of interest. If a
submitter contacts a member of the editorial board regarding the
contest, that person will be disqualified. In the event that
the
editorial board chooses no manuscript for publication, all contest fees
will be returned.
Final notification of the contest winner and contest finalists will be
provided by e-mail to all contest entrants in February, 2011.
Bull City Press is a member of the Council of Literary Magazines and
Presses, and will conduct this contest in adherence with the CLMP Code
of Ethics: CLMP's community of
independent literary publishers
believes that
ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers
by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act
ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the
foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to 1) conduct
our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical
behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; 2) to provide
clear and specific contest guidelines -- defining conflict of interest
for all parties involved; and 3) to make the mechanics of our selection
process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different
contest models produce different results, but that each model can be
run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and
dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests
contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.
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