The 2024 SFPA Speculative Poetry Contest began taking entries on June 1 and will continue through August 31. The contest is open to all poets, including non-SFPA-members. Prizes will be awarded for best unpublished poem in three categories:

• Dwarf (poems 1–10 lines [prose poems 0–100 words])
• Short (11–49 lines [prose poems 101–499 words])
• Long (50 lines and more [prose 500 words and up])

Line count does not include title or stanza breaks. All sub-genres of speculative poetry are allowed in any form.

Prizes in each category (Dwarf, Short, Long) will be $150 First Prize, $75 Second Prize, $25 Third Prize. Publication on the SFPA website for first through third places. There is an entry fee of $3 per poem.

The contest judge is Stephanie M. Wytovich. Her work has been showcased in Weird Tales, Nightmare Magazine, Southwest Review, Year’s Best Hardcore Horror: Volume 2, The Best Horror of the Year: Volume 8 & 15. Wytovich is the Poetry Editor for Raw Dog Screaming Press. She won the Bram Stoker Award for her poetry collection, Brothel. Her debut novel, The Eighth, is published with Dark Regions Press, and her nonfiction craft book for speculative poetry, Writing Poetry in the Dark, is available from Raw Dog Screaming Press.

The contest chair is Angela Yuriko Smith, a third-generation Ryukyuan-American, award-winning poet, author, and publisher with 20+ years in newspapers. Publisher of Space & Time magazine (est. 1966), two-time Bram Stoker Awards® Winner, and an HWA Mentor of the Year, she shares Authortunities, a free weekly calendar of author opportunities, at the link.

Entries are read blind. Unpublished poems only. Author retains rights, except that first through third place winners will be published on the SPFA website. Full guidelines here.

[Based on a press release.]