Poetry Broadside Contest

Send us your poems!

Submissions are open until October 31, 11:59 PT for our 2025 contest. Please review the guidelines prior to submitting, and read the FAQ below before sending questions to contest@expedition.press. Thanks and warm best. We look forward to reading your writing.

Submission Guidelines

• Submission period: Oct 1-31, 2025
• $16 entry fee for 1-2 poems
• Submitting will auto-add you to Expedition’s mailing list (unsubscribe any time)
• Poems must be 25 lines or shorter. Excerpts from longer poems acceptable.
  
• Poems must be your own original writing. Work generated in any way with AI is not acceptable.
• Submissions must be formatted as a PDF with text in 12pt Georgia, and with no identifying personal information in the document.
• Submissions may be previously published if you can get permission for a broadside to be printed.
• Simultaneous submissions allowed.
• Multiple submissions not allowed.
• Prize: a letterpress broadside designed and printed by Myrna Keliher of Expedition Press! Also:
  
  • $100 cash
  • 20 copies of the broadside
  • Feature in Expedition’s newsletter & blog
  • Publication credit if previously unpublished
• Contest closed to all past or present students, interns, or employees of Expedition Press.
• Winner announced January 2026, broadside produced in spring 2026.
• Final selection by Myrna Keliher, artist and owner of Expedition Press.

Contest FAQ

What kind of poems are you interested in? All styles are accepted — just send us your best work! Shorter poems and/or excerpts tend to work best for broadsides, hence the 25 line limit.

Can I submit more than once? How many poems? Only one submission is allowed per person. One submission = one pdf, with up to two poems or excerpts in it. If you are submitting two poems or excerpts, we'd prefer to have them each on their own page, in the same pdf.

Do I really have to use Georgia? Why? Georgia is a digital typeface (aka font) that was designed for ease of reading on screen, is widely accessible, and is simple and pleasing. We want to read as objectively as possible, so it's important to us that all submissions are in the same typeface. If your poem requires a different font and/or has visual aspects not allowed for in the required formatting, please feel welcome to email us with specific questions: contest@expedition.press.

How many copies of the broadside will be made? Edition size and format for the winning broadside will be determined based on the poem selected. Our design process begins and ends with deep consideration of the text, so we don't know what the final piece will look like until we've spent time with the poem.

Do I get a say in the design? Poets receive a design proof ahead of printing and are invited to give input. Final design is up to Expedition Press, as we are often refining up to the last moment on press.

What will Expedition Press do with the rest of the broadsides? They will be available for sale on our website and at shows we exhibit at. Authors are welcome to sell their copies, and will have access to more copies of their broadside at a discounted price if desired. Finally, if the poem was previously published and we've gotten permission to print, the publisher will receive comp copies as well.

Will it be a limited edition? Probably not. We'll agree on a set number of copies initially, some of which we'll likely ask the author to sign. We like to offer signed and unsigned copies but leave editions open because it allows us to maintain more accessible pricing and keep things in print.

What is the review process for the contest? All submissions will be reviewed blind by a panel of readers from the Expedition Press community. Final selection will be by Myrna Keliher.

Do you accept poems in translation? Yes! With the caveat that you must have permission from the original author and/or publisher and their blessings on submitting your translation to our contest. Please submit the original poem alongside your translation and note it as such (this will not count as a second poem, you are welcome to submit two translations of two different poems).

What about poems in languages other than English? Yes, if accompanied by an English translation. We love to work with poems in other languages but also, English is the only one we speak well enough here at the Press to be able to read and judge original work. So if you want to submit in another language, you'll need to submit an English translation alongside. Hablamos español también pero nos gustaría ver su traducción en ingles igual.

The poem(s) I submitted got accepted somewhere else! What should I do? We don't actually need you to do anything, but you're welcome to let us know, and where it was accepted, and to ask the publisher whether they'd be open to having a broadside made of the poem. In our experience, most publishers are very happy for letterpress broadsides to exist of poems they've published and there's great opportunity to collaborate on cross-promotion, which we're always happy for. Of course if you need to withdraw your submission for whatever reason, just let us know.

Still have questions? Email contest@expedition.press and we'll do our best to answer in a timely manner.