Submission Guidelines

2026 Frontier OPEN

May 11 to July 12, 2026

It can be difficult to write for a themed contest. Some poets may not have an award-worthy poem for every pirate-horror or glassblowing sonnet contest out there. Those who do may still struggle to interpret the nebulous criteria. While themes can provide direction, they also run the risk of an additional publication barrier.

That’s why, once a year, our publication holds a contest with no thematic restrictions—no deciphering niche writing prompts, just an invitation to submit your strongest work.

Frontier Poetry is thrilled to announce our biggest writing contest of the year: the 2026 Frontier OPEN. While we primarily serve as a platform for new and emerging writers, the OPEN is meant to support and elevate the poetry community as a whole. Every year, we look forward to this prize, for which emerging and established poets are considered in equal measure and as a result are often published side by side in Frontier Poetry.

We’re awarding one exceptional poem that demonstrates impact, risk, experimentation, and craft excellence—regardless of theme or subject—with a $5,000 prize.

In addition to the winner, nine finalists will also receive an award of $100 each with publication. The Frontier Poetry editorial team will work together to select winners and finalists for this contest.

Our editorial team can’t wait to read your best work—glassblowing sonnets and pirate-horror poems included.

The contest opens May 11th, 2026, and closes July 12th, 2026.

Read recent Frontier OPEN winners:

Guidelines

Submissions are open to all poets, regardless of publication history.
Send up to three poems per submission, for a total of no more than twelve pages.
For this contest, we have no aesthetic or formal requirements and will consider all styles of poetry.
Please submit unpublished poems only. Previously published work will be automatically disqualified.
You may submit multiple times, but each submission requires a separate $20 fee.
We welcome simultaneous submissions, but please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
As part of our dedication to the pursuit of a more inclusive publishing world, we offer a free submission window for poets from historically marginalized groups at the beginning of the contest. Please note the portal will close when we hit our cap of fifty submissions; there will be no additional waivers granted.
Submissions are open internationally, to any poet writing in English. Inclusion of other languages is welcome, as long as the poem is primarily written in English. Some code-switching/meshing is warmly welcomed.
Please include a brief cover letter that includes a short, third-person bio with your publication history, if applicable. To safeguard our staff, please include any necessary content warnings as well.
Do not include any identifying information in the body of your document.
Work generated by AI will be automatically disqualified.
Please do not submit work if you have a close relationship with Frontier’s editors.
Winners and finalists will be announced in the summer of 2026.

If you have any questions, please visit our FAQ page. If you don’t find the answer to your question, you can send an email to contact (at ) frontierpoetry (dot) com.

Additional Feedback Options

Our editorial commentary costs $12 and will provide you with a few sentences of high level, big picture feedback from one of our astute readers.

The single–letter editorial feedback option costs $59 and will provide you with two pages of detailed and actionable feedback by one of our editors on a single poem of your choice from your packet, including suggestions for future submissions. The $149 option will provide you with three letters from three different editors. Our guest editors are paid a significant portion of the fee and all are astute and professional poets. Please allow eight to twelve weeks from the close of the contest to receive your editorial feedback.

New Voices

Always open. Always free.

We are thrilled to offer significant payment to our partner poets: $50 per poem.

We warmly invite poets from historically under-represented and marginalized groups to submit. Our aim is to be an accurate representation of the diversity of our community. Your voice is valued here.

Guidelines

- Submissions are open to new and emerging poets only (no more than one full-length published work of poetry out in the world or forthcoming at the time of submission. For information about self-published works and pieces published via personal or social media pages, please see our FAQ page below).
- Frontier Poetry does not consider or review AI-generated work. Submissions utilizing AI tools will be automatically declined.
- We accept simultaneous submissions—just please send us a note if your work is picked up elsewhere (we want to say congrats)!
- All submissions must be no more than ten pages and no more than five poems.
- We do not accept multiple submissions. Please submit all your poems in ONE document.
- Please include a cover letter with your publication history.
- Expect eight to twelve weeks for a response.
- To view a list of our most commonly asked questions regarding submitting to us, please see our FAQ page.

Submission Options

New Voices Free – Always a free way to submit and we always pay for the work. We pay new poets $50 per poem selected. Response time is eight to twelve weeks.
New Voices Editorial Letter – If you’re interested in knowing a little bit more about what we thought of your poem, utilize this option. When we’ve reviewed your piece we will include one to two pages of feedback on your poem including suggestions for revision, where it might be a good fit for publication, and other comments about ways it can be improved. It’s our way of helping you to understand your work better and improve. Our editors are paid a significant portion of the fee.
New Voices Fast Response – It can be hard to wait to hear back, so we've developed a quicker turnaround time for writers who want to hear back within two weeks. There is a reading fee for this category.
New Voices Free Fast Response for BIPOC – Our quick turnaround option offered for free to Black, Indigenous, and other writers of color.

Unless specifically requested, we do not accept AI-generated work.

Author's Rights

Frontier Poetry holds first publication rights for three months after publication, after which rights revert to the author. Authors agree not to publish, nor authorize or permit the publication of, any part of the material for three months following first publication. For reprints, we ask for acknowledgment of publication in Frontier Poetry first.