2026 Tusculum Review Poetry Chapbook Prize
Contest Judge Nate Marshall
Three-Part Award | 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.
To Enter | The entry fee is $20 per manuscript. Entry fees include a one-year subscription to The Tusculum Review (an annual publication) and consideration for publication in our 22nd volume (2026).
Deadline | The deadline for submitting is June 15, 2026. All entries should be sent through Submittable: tusculumreview.submittable.com. We do not accept mailed or emailed submissions, but if Submittable is a hardship, let us know at review@tusculum.edu.
Contest Judge | Nate Marshall is an award-winning author and editor from the South Side of Chicago. His most recent book, Finna, was recognized as one of the best books of 2020 by NPR and The New York Public Library. He is an assistant professor in the creative writing program at The University of Wisconsin and lives in Madison, WI with his wife, the writer Alison C. Rollins, and their very cute daughter.
Contest judge Nate Marshall and editors of The Tusculum Review will determine the winner of the 2026 prize. Family, friends, and previous students of the contest judge and Tusculum Review editors are disqualified from the competition, as are those with reciprocal professional relationships. Previous winners of The Tusculum Review contests are also disqualified. Previous finalists and honorable mentions may enter.
Chapbook Length | Each manuscript should consist of a 20–30-page chapbook in a standard 12-point font.
Unpublished Entries | Chapbooks may not have been previously published nor be forthcoming, though individual poems may have been published elsewhere (provided rights have reverted to the author). You are welcome to submit your chapbook to other publications or contests while we consider it for the prize, but please alert us if your chapbook is going to be published or honored elsewhere, so we can take it out of the running. If you have more than one chapbook to submit, create a new entry for each.
Anonymous Manuscripts | Please do NOT include your name or any other identifying information on any page of the poetry manuscript.
Blind Judging | Names and identifying information will not be visible to the judges. The Tusculum Review reserves the right to extend the call for manuscripts or cancel the award. We have only canceled one of the 30+ contests we’ve hosted, due to single-digit entries. Click here for our judging methodology. Questions? review@tusculum.edu
Publication Rights | Except for second printings of the journal due to demand, all rights to material in The Tusculum Review and chapbooks revert to the individual authors and artists after publication (first serial rights). We request that you acknowledge us if you reprint work we published first. The chapbook design belongs to The Tusculum Review. Tusculum University does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, age, sexual orientation, identity, religion, veteran/military status, citizenship, ethnic origin, or disability.
Chapbook Launch and Marketing | The debut of the prizewinning chapbook is our most important annual event. When possible, we bring the prizewinner to campus for the live launch, where they read for, and take questions from, an audience of community members and students, many of whom have already read and discussed the writer’s work: the prizewinner is greeted by fans.
The visiting writer may be asked to lead a workshop of student poetry earlier in the day. A student editor will interview and write a profile of the winning author for publication on our website in advance of the launch event. We will use photographs of the author, quotes from their chapbook, and blurbs from the contest judge to market the prizewinning chapbook and the event. After filming the live launch, we’ll include portions of the recording on our website. We will submit the prizewinning chapbook for consideration for the Pushcart Prizes, Best New Poets, and other relevant recognition.
Chapbooks are short books of literature, appealingly packaged: an art and literary form. Although literary presses most often publish chapbooks of poetry, The Tusculum Review publishes single works of prose as chapbooks as well: one short story or one essay. Our annual chapbook contest rotates through the genres on a three-year cycle. We 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. This year, 2026, we are selecting a chapbook of poems. We commission a well-matched artist to illustrate the winning chapbook and design a chapbook whose aesthetics augment the poems’ impact. Past chapbooks can be viewed on our website. Our 2026 poetry chapbook contest, judged by Nate Marshall, rewards a poetry chapbook and closes June 15, 2026.
