West Trade Review Prize for Poetry
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Contest opens January 15, 2026, and concludes at end of day on March 15, 2026. Each entry includes a copy of the Spring 2025 print edition.
Grand prize is $1000 and publication in the Spring 2027 print edition.
Eligibility
- This contest is open only to emerging writers only who have not yet published a book with a print run over 1,500.
- Only previously unpublished poems will be accepted.
- Poems that have won and/or placed in any other writing contest are ineligible.
- Unlimited entries allowed. Up to three poems per submission.
- Simultaneous submissions are allowed but work previously accepted or published in West Trade Review is ineligible.
- Please withdraw your submission and notify West Trade Review if it is accepted elsewhere.
- No one editorially or financially affiliated with West Trade Review can enter the contest.
Guidelines
- One submission per entry fee of $15 (up to three poems per submission). Entry fee includes a copy of our spring 2025 print edition.
- Poet may submit up to three poems. Author is allowed multiple entries.
- The author’s name must not appear on the manuscript or in the file name.
- Please submit up to three poems per entry in a single Microsoft Word file and list the title of each poem as the submission title in Submittable.
- Please use a standard font, either Times New Roman or Arial in 12-point font size.
- Must include a title for each poem.
- Please do not include professional resumes or biographies with your entry. Entries are judged anonymously; the judge will only consider poem quality.
- Revisions or edits will not be accepted once submitted for judging.
Entries that do not meet guidelines or eligibility requirements will not be considered.
$1000 and publication in West Trade Review will be awarded to the winning poem. Other entries of merit may be considered for publication. The winning poem will be announced on our website and social media platforms mid-April 2026 and then published in the 2027 spring print issue of West Trade Review.
Upload submission here:
To be considered for the prize, submissions must be uploaded to the proper folder titled, "West Trade Review Prize for Poetry ($15 Entry Fee, $1000 prize)."
CONTEST JUDGE: Jason Schneiderman
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Jason Schneiderman is the author of five poetry collections, most recently Self Portrait of Icarus as a Country on Fire (Red Hen, 2024). Other titles include Hold Me Tight (Red Hen, 2020); Primary Source (Red Hen Press, 2016), winner of the Benjamin Saltman Prize; Striking Surface (Ashland Poetry Press, 2010), winner of the Richard Snyder Prize, and Sublimation Point (Four Way Books, 2004), a Stahlecker Selection.
His poetry and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including American Poetry Review, The Best American Poetry, Poetry London, Grand Street, The Penguin Book of the Sonnet, Story Quarterly, and Tin House.
He edited the anthology Queer: A Reader for Writers (Oxford University Press 2015).
He is also the author of Nothingism: Poetry at the End of Print Culture (University of Michigan Press, 2025) and Teaching Writing Through Poetry: Understanding Poetric Form and Its Power to Unleash Creative Expression (Bloomsbury, 2025).
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Previous Contest Winners:
2022: Max Parker ("Secrets and Surprises," selected by judge Kemi Alabai
2023: Claire Scott ("I keep learning new ways to light a match" selected by judge Robert Wood Lynn)
2024: Elizabeth Hickson ("Nocturne in Open Darkness," selected by judge Brian Turner)
2025: Ezra Fox ("What the Darkness Renders on the Question of Passing", selected by judge Rick Barot)
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