Publishing outstanding poetry since 1986

THE COMSTOCK REVIEW ANNUAL POETRY CONTEST

The Comstock Review OPEN READING PERIOD is open until March 31, 2015.
See guidelines below. 

We have two contests during the year: 
The Annual Poetry Contest/ Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial Award
The Chapbook Contest:  This year the Jessie Bryce Niles Chapbook award returns.
See separate pages for complete rules that must be followed for 2015
and winners for 2014 contests.

The Annual Poetry Contest/ Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial Award
Final Judge for 2015:  Allison Joseph
Submissions accepted April 1 to July 1, 2015.
All poems are screened by The Comstock Review Editors. 

The Jessie Bryce Niles Chapbook Contest
Submissions accepted August 1 to October 31, 2015.
Judge: Kathleen Bryce Niles-Overton.
All poems are screened by The Comstock Review Editors. 

Comstock Writers Group Chapbook Award for 2014

Posted on July 13, 2014

The Comstock Review Editors and Judge John M. Bellinger are pleased to announce:

THE COMSTOCK WRITERS GROUP CHAPBOOK CONTEST WINNER 2014:

STEVE MCDONALD from Murrieta, CA GOLDEN FISH / DARK POND
        Award: $1,000 and 50 Copies of the Winning Chapbook

HONORABLE MENTION CHAPBOOKS (in alphabetic order)
B.J. Buckley from Power, MT for Sonata in Earth Minor
Kim Garcia from Chestnut Hill, MA for Tales of the Sisters
Eric Nelson from Statesboro, CA for Small Wonders

SPECIAL MERIT CHAPBOOKS 

Christopher Bursk from Langhorne Manor, CA for Light at the Window
Lucinda Grey from Charlotte, NC for Separate in the Evening
Lois Grunwald from Talent, OR for Capacious Earth
Elizabeth Carothers Herron from Graton, CA for In the Cities of Sleep
Dave Jarecki from Portland, OR for Notes on the Distorted Pseudo-Self
P.M.F. Johnson from Minneapolis, MN for Family Haunts
Holly Karapetkova from Arlington, VA for Holding Air
Miho Nonaka from Wheaton, IL for Autumn Troupe
Gordon Preston from Modesto, CA for Lost Kites
Red Hawk from Monticello, AR for The Code of the Lakota
Marzelle Robertson from Mt. Vernon, TX for Three Red Mineral Blocks
Mike Schneider from Pittsburgh, PA for Shaped Like a Mouth to Catch Rain
James Scruton from McKenzie, TN for Blind Season
Peter Tolly from Neenah, WI for Deer Run and Dead Lift
 Dennis Trudell from Madison, WI for Some Futures

We congratulate all the poets  above whose chapbooks were considered by the judge.

We thank all contestants for their entries. All will receive a copy of the winning chapbook upon publication.
If you entered the chapbook contest and would prefer to receive The Comstock Review Awards Edition,
(Kwame Dawes, Final Judge, Vol. 28, #2) please contact us at poetry@comstockreview.org

PLEASE VISIT US AGAIN FOR INFORMATION ON THE JESSIE BRYCE NILES CHAPBOOK CONTEST.
ENTRIES ACCEPTED AFTER AUGUST 1, 2015.  NEW RULES COMING AND MUST BE FOLLOWED.
First Prize: $1,000 plus publication and 50 author’s copies

Welcome to the all New ComstockReview.org

Posted on May 17, 2014

The website is still a work in progress. We hope to offer online subscriptions soon!

COMSTOCK REVIEW OPEN READING PERIOD     January 1 to March 31, 2015

Contributor’s Guidelines
Please send 4-5 poems maximum with a SASE (Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope).
Please note that we no longer accept any simultaneous submissions
or any e-mail submissions of any kind.
 Our Editors appreciate: Well crafted verse, either traditional or non-traditional;
Consistency of metaphor;
Refreshing, distinctive imagery and diction;
Effective use of poetic devices and sonic qualities;
Theme or approach that casts new light on the world and the human condition;
and/or a poem that tickles your brain long after the page has turned.

 We will reply to poets outside the continental United States by e-mail.
All others need a SASE to receive a response.  We will sometimes contact you about accepted poems
by e-mail.  However, you cannot count on hearing from us without an SASE.
We try to send constructive criticism when we have time.

The Comstock Review is proud of its long-established reputation of publishing the finest known and unknown poets throughout North America. Our Managing Editors since 2014 are Michael A. Sickler and Betsy Anderson.  All poems are screened by at least three editors before acceptance.  All of our editors are volunteers and poets in their own right. Our screening editors are John M. Bellinger, Peggy Sperber Flanders, Cathy Gibbons, Michael McAnaney, Ellen McNeal, Peggy Miller, Carolyn Ostrander, and Georgia A. Popoff.

We choose our poems solely on the basis of what we consider to be their artistic merits.
We are not swayed by long publishing histories.
We do like a short bio (under 50 words) with your submission to aid us as we put the magazine together.
We do not publish single haiku, and rarely publish anything over two pages unless we find it exceptional and deserving of so much space. We are not afraid of the avant-garde, but shy from the overly obscure, the patently religious, and the needlessly graphic.
Replies are sent up to 3 months after close of reading period.

Send to: The Comstock Review, 4956 St. John Drive, Syracuse, NY 13215
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