June 2026 Deadlines: 10 Contests and Magazines With Deadlines This Month
There’s plenty of opportunities to submit your work this month, and there’s a wide variety of options—contests for select poems, chapbook prizes, and magazines with open calls. It’s prime time to share your work with the world! Don’t forget that acceptances and rejections are by-products of your publishing journey—crafting your authentic art is the ultimate goal. We want to see your poems in the world, wherever they emerge; and as always, submit poetry for free to our New Voices. This list is powered by the deadline service Literistic!
Midway Journal -1000 Below Poetry Contest
Enter Midway Journal’s -1000 Below: Flash Prose and Poetry Contest for a chance to win the $500 grand prize! Submit up to 2 poems per entry, up to 55 words per poem. No more than one poem per page. You may submit an unlimited number of entries, but a new entry fee must be paid for each new submission. You may also submit to each genre. However, there is only one grand prize winner, one second prize winner and one third prize winner and not a winner in each genre. Finalists will be chosen for strong work regardless of genre and sent to contest judge Michael Martone by September.
Fee // Deadline: June 1
Boulevard Poetry Contest for Emerging Poets
$1,000 and publication in Boulevard awarded for the winning group of three poems by a poet who has not yet published a book of poetry with a nationally distributed press. The poems may be a sequence or unrelated. All entries will be considered for publication and for payment at our regular rates. Entries will be judged by the editors of Boulevard magazine.
Palette Poetry 2026 Nature Poetry Prize
As summer crawls forth, we invite you to step outside and immerse yourself (and your writing) in nature! For our second year of the Nature Poetry Prize, we are ecstatic to have Kimiko Hahn serve as our judge. Please join us in celebrating the natural world through poems contemplating our relationship to flora and fauna, on how words can bloom from soil, and about the melody you hear whispered in the winds. Whether your connection to nature is positive, antagonistic, or dependent—we look forward to reading it all!
Fee // Deadline: June 14
Chicago Review
Chicago Review welcomes unsolicited submissions of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for publication in their journal. They publish both online and in print, according to editorial needs. While there are no strict length requirements, they prefer to read at least five pages of work. In most cases, more than fifteen or twenty pages will be too much. Simultaneous submissions are allowed but discouraged.
Fee // Deadline: June 14
Akron Poetry Prize
Each year, the University of Akron Press offers the Akron Poetry Prize, a competition open to all poets writing in English. The winning poet receives $1,500 and publication of their book as part of the Akron Series in Poetry. The final selection will be made by a nationally prominent poet. Other manuscripts may also be considered for publication in the series. Manuscripts must be a total length of at least 48 pages and no longer than 90 pages. The final judge for 2026 is Brenda Shaughnessy.
Fee // Deadline: June 15
Tusculum Review Poetry Chapbook Prize
A prize of $1,500, publication of the chapbook in the Tusculum Review’s 22nd volume (2026), and creation of a limited edition stand-alone chapbook with original art is awarded for the winning chain of poems. Each manuscript should consist of a 20–30-page chapbook in a standard 12-point font. Contest judge Nate Marshall is an award-winning author and editor from the South Side of Chicago. They commission a well-matched artist to illustrate the winning work and design a chapbook whose aesthetics augment the text. The chapbook launches live in Greeneville, Tennessee in November, often with a live reading by the author, Q&A, and reception.
Fee // Deadline: June 15
Gival Press Oscar Wilde Award
This award will be given to the best previously unpublished (self-publications and publications online are considered “published work”) original poem written in English (of any length, in any style, typed, single spaced but with breaks for stanzas on one side only), which best relates LGBTQ life by a poet who is 18 or older. Entrants are asked to submit up to 3 of their poems per submission. The winner will receive $500.00 (USD), and the poem, along with information about the poet, will be published on the websites of Gival Press.
Fee // Deadline: June 27
The May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize
Bauhan Publishing offers an annual poetry contest in honor of New Hampshire poet May Sarton to encourage both new and experienced poets from anywhere in the world to submit their poetry. Your collection could potentially win $1,000 and publication through our company so that their global readership can enjoy your words! Award-winning Pushcart Prize poet, translator, and founding editor of Four Way Books (1993–2001), Dzvinia Orlowsky is the prize judge.
Fee // Deadline: June 30
Rhino Poetry
RHINO‘s diverse group of editors looks for the best unpublished poems, translations, and flash fiction/nonfiction by local, national, and international writers. They welcome all styles of writing, particularly that which is well-crafted, uses language lovingly and surprisingly, and feels daring or quietly powerful. Submit 3-5 poems. Every submission is reviewed by at least three editors, any of whom can nominate a poem to be brought to our editorial table.
Fee // Deadline: June 30
YesYes Books Vinyl 45 Chapbook Contest
The Vinyl 45 Chapbook Contest is open to poetry, prose, and mixed genre chapbook manuscripts, 20-25 pages in length including title page and table of contents. Collaborative manuscripts are eligible for submission. Winner will receive the following: publication by YesYes Books, a limited edition print run of 400, a $500 prize, 50 author copies, and an additional $250 toward tour expenses. Additionally, at least 2 Finalists will receive the following: much sincere public congratulations for being finalists and possible publication by YesYes Books.
Fee // Deadline: June 30
