Call for The Montreal International Poetry Prize 2024 is open now!!!
The Montreal International Poetry Prize is committed to encouraging the creation of original works of poetry, to building international readership, and to exploring the world’s Englishes.
The Montreal Prize awards one prize of $20,000 CAD to a poet for a single poem of 40 or fewer lines. A jury of internationally reputed poets and critics selects a shortlist of approximately 60 poems, from which a judge chooses one winner. The shortlist is published in The Montreal Poetry Prize Anthology.
The prize is run by the Department of English at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Every year, jurors and finalists of the Montreal Prize share their work in Fluid Vessels, our online reading series. All are welcome to listen and join the discussion.
The Montreal International Poetry Prize was founded and incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in 2010 by the poet and critic Asa Boxer, with the help of Peter Abramowicz and Len Epp. It sponsors a crowd-funded biennial competition, awarding one prize of $20,000 to one poet for a single poem.
The Montreal International Poetry Prize has become a truly global competition, supported by its international jury of award-winning poets from North America, the Caribbean, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Nigeria, and Uganda, and with participants from more than 100 countries.
The management of the Prize was transferred to the Department of English at McGill University in 2019.
An exceptional history distinguishes Montreal as a centre of poetry. Some of the first anthologies of Canadian poetry were produced in Montreal, including E.H. Dewart’s Selections from Canadian Poets (1864) and W.D. Lighthall’s Songs of the Great Dominion (1889). At the beginning of the twentieth century, Sir Andrew Macphail of McGill University played a key role in the careers of a number of poets, foremost among them Marjorie Pickthall, through his editing of the University Magazine (1907–20) from his home on Peel Street. The Faculty of Arts now boasts a robust faculty complement in poetry, reflective of the department’s commitment over time to cultivating creative work in and critical work responsive to poetry.
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The Prize and the Publications
- Prize and Publishing. The jury will choose approximately sixty poems for publication in the Montreal Prize anthology. Of these, the judge will select one poem as winner of the single prize of twenty thousand dollars in Canadian funds ($20,000 CAD). To have an entry included in the anthology, and/or to be declared the winner of the prize, Entrants must meet all the present terms and conditions.
- Complimentary Copy. Entrants published in the anthology will receive one free copy of the Montreal Prize anthology.
- Winner Announcement. The winner of the Montreal Prize will be announced by 1 December of the competition year.
- No Transfer. The prize may not be exchanged or transferred. No substitutions are allowed.
- Refusal. Refusal to accept the prize or publication in the Montreal Prize anthology releases the Montreal Prize and its directors, employees, sponsors, partners, and affiliates of any obligation towards the Entrant.
- Method of Award. The prize winner will be notified by telephone or by email. The method for delivering the prize to the prize winner will be agreed upon between the Montreal Prize and the prize winner. Payment of any transaction fees, including currency exchange fees, associated with the method for delivering the prize to the prize winner, are the responsibility of the prize winner.
- Time of Announcement. The prize winner will be named online, on the Montreal Prize website, by 1 December of the relevant year.
- Deadline for Claim. The deadline for claiming the prize will be thirty (30) days from the time of announcement. Should the winner fail to claim the prize, he or she will forfeit the prize and another winner will be selected.
Eligibilities
- Age Restriction. All Entrants shall be of the age of majority in their legal jurisdiction of residency at the time of entry submission.
- Topic. Entries may be on any topic.
- International Entries. Entries may be submitted from anywhere in the world. Each entry must be submitted with the author’s legal name. A pen name may be added to a submission.
- Length. Entries may be any length not exceeding forty (40) lines, excluding blank lines, numbered section titles, brief dedications, and epigraphs.
- Language. All entries must be primarily in English. The inclusion of a few non-English words or phrases is acceptable.
Application Process
- Simultaneous Submission. Simultaneous submissions are permitted. If a poem is scheduled to be published elsewhere on or before 30 September of the competition year, it must be immediately withdrawn from the Montreal Prize. Entrants should withdraw the relevant poem themselves through the online submission platform. Refunds cannot be issued for withdrawn submissions. If a poem, accepted elsewhere, is to be published after 30 September of the competition year, it remains eligible for the Montreal Prize and need not be withdrawn. In that case, successful Entrants will ensure that first publication by the Montreal Prize is duly acknowledged in the subsequent publication.
- Publication Defined. Publication is defined as the appearance of a text on the Internet or in print, or the broadcasting of it in any format.
- Previous Publication. Entries must be unpublished and original works of the Entrant. Each entry must be the work of a single author, not including a company or organization. Each entry must not infringe upon any right or copyright of any person or entity.
- Translation. Translations are not eligible for the Montreal Prize, except a translation made by the Entrant of a poem written by the Entrant.
- Publication Following Entry. If an entry is published at any time before the selections for the Montreal Prize anthologies have been announced, it will be rendered ineligible. Entries that are selected for publication in the Montreal Prize anthologies are subject to specific publishing rights outlined elsewhere in these rules.
- Entry. All entries must be entered exclusively using the online submission platform linked to the Montreal Prize website. No other form of entry, by conventional mail or otherwise, shall be considered, and any such entry will not be returned. Entries must not include the Entrant’s name in the text.
- No changes. All entries are final; no changes are allowed after submissions close. Before the submission deadline, Entrants may modify their entries themselves.
- Entry Restrictions. The Montreal Prize directors, officers, employees, representatives or agents, including the subeditors, editors and prize judges, as well as any of their immediate family members or persons with whom they are domiciled, are not eligible to enter the Montreal Prize.
- Entry Fee. An entry fee is required for each entry. Fees are allocated based on early and final entry deadlines, and first or additional entry status. The applicable fees are as follows:
- $20 CAD for a first entry during the early entry period;
- $25 CAD for a first entry during the later entry period;
- $17 CAD for every additional entry.
- Deadlines. The early entry deadline is 1 May at 23:59 ET (Montreal Time). The final entry deadline is 15 May at 23:59 ET.
- Right to Extend Deadline. The Montreal International Poetry Prize reserves the right to extend deadlines as it sees fit.
- Fee Payment. Entries will not be eligible until payment has been received and confirmed. If payment is withdrawn, the relevant entry will be rendered ineligible. All entries are final, and entry fees are non-transferable and non-refundable.
- WARRANTY. Entrants warrant they have created the entry they are submitting, that they own all rights to it, that all intellectual property, including copyright, in the entry belongs to the entrant and remains solely and exclusively with the entrant, and that the entry shall not violate any laws of any country and shall not infringe any other party’s copyright, trademark or other rights. Entrants will indemnify and hold the Montreal Prize and its directors, officers, and employees free of harm from and against any and all loss, damage, costs and other expense arising out of claims, whatever their nature, resulting directly or indirectly from breach of this warranty.
Application Deadline: May 2, 2024 (3 Days Remaining)
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