The Changes Book Prize awards

Established in 2022, the Changes Book Prize awards $10,000 and publication for a first or second collection of poems. In addition to the cash prize, winners receive a fairer-than-standard publishing contract, national distribution, extensive advertising and publicity, 50 copies of their book, and a launch event in NYC. In previous years the prize has been judged by Louise Glück and Eileen Myles. This year’s winning manuscript will be selected by Terrance Hayes.

Submissions open Sept 1 – Oct 1, 2024

2025 Judge: Terrance Hayes

Terrance Hayes is the author of American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin, winner of the 2019 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and Lighthead, winner of the 2010 National Book Award. His other poetry collections are So to Speak, How to Be Drawn, Wind in a Box, Hip Logic, and Muscular Music. He is also the author of To Float in the Space Between: A Life and Work in Conversation with the Life and Work of Etheridge Knight, winner of the 2019 Poetry Foundation Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism. His honors include a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a 2014 MacArthur Fellowship. Hayes lives in New York City, where he is a professor of creative writing at New York University.First readers: Ian Fishman, Karisma Price & Changes Editors

Contest Guidelines

Eligibility

The Changes Book Prize is open to residents of the United States who have not published (or committed to publishing) more than one book-length collection of poetry with a registered ISBN.
Submissions for the competition must be submitted no earlier than September 1, 2024 and no later than October 1, 2024 at 11:59 pm EST.
Current or former students, colleagues, employees, family members, and close friends of the judge are not eligible for the prize.

Standards & Commitments

From year to year, The Changes Book Prize book series aims to reflect the variousness of what is possible in poetry. To that end, we are committed to publishing work from the widest possible range of practices and perspectives.
Criteria for selecting a winning manuscript are broad; the judge and first readers do not screen submissions with a preference for any particular “style” or type of poetry, and emphatically are not looking for work that bears an affinity to their own.
The Changes Book Prize is administered in accordance with the Code of Ethics developed by the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP). The judge will use an anonymous review process to select the winning manuscript.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions must be original poetry manuscripts written in the English language. Poems published in print or online periodicals, anthologies, or chapbooks may be included, but the manuscript itself must be unpublished. Translations and works by multiple authors are not accepted.
Manuscripts must be a minimum of 48 numbered pages and a maximum of 96 numbered pages in length, including the title page and table of contents. All manuscripts must be paginated. Each new poem must start on a new page.
Manuscripts should be formatted using a standard typeface in 12-point font. Manuscripts may be single-spaced, 1.5-spaced, or double-spaced.
Upload your manuscript as a .doc, .docx, or .pdf file. Include a title page with the title only and a table of contents. Author’s name should not appear on any pages within the uploaded document.
Where indicated on Submittable, include a brief bio (no more than 200 words) and a list of acknowledgments of previously published poems. Do not include acknowledgements, biographical information, or any other cover letter within the document of the manuscript.
Submitting more than one manuscript to the prize is not allowed. Manuscripts that do not adhere to submission guidelines will not be considered.
Revisions or corrections are not permitted once your manuscript has been submitted. The prizewinner will have an opportunity to edit their manuscript prior to publication.
You may simultaneously submit your manuscript elsewhere, but please notify us immediately if it is accepted for publication.
The Changes Book Prize reserves the right of the judge to not choose a winner for any given year of the competition.