Lena Shull Book Award

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Sponsored annually by the North Carolina Poetry Society, the Lena Shull Book Award honors the best manuscript of unpublished poetry written by a native or resident of North Carolina.  The winning manuscript will be published by Redhawk Publications.  The winner will receive $250, fifty copies of their book, and be invited to read at the NCPS meeting in September. The entry fee is $25 per manuscript. Submissions accepted June 1-July 1, 2024.

The 2024 Lena Shull Poetry Book Contest judge will be Christopher Salerno.  Salerno is a professor, editor, and the author of five books of poetry.  His most recent book, The Man Grave, won the Lexi Rudnitsky Editor’s Choice Award from Persea Books. His trade book, How to Write Poetry: A Guided Journal, is available from Calisto Media.  His work has received the Glenna Luschei Award from Prairie Schooner, The Founders Prize from RHINO Magazine, the Two Sylvias Press Chapbook Award, the Laurel Review Chapbook Prize, and a New Jersey State Council on the Arts fellowship. His poems have appeared in New York Times Magazine, New Republic, American Poetry Review, New England Review, and elsewhere. He teaches in the M.F.A program at William Paterson University in New Jersey, where he serves as Director of Writing Across the Curriculum. 

To read more about previous winners of the Lena Shull Book Award, click here.

Lena Shull Poetry Book Contest Guidelines

ELIGIBILITY

  • The contest is open to any North Carolina poet.
  • Entrants must be native-born North Carolinians or current residents.
  • The manuscript must never have been previously published.

AWARDS

There will be a contest Winner and two Honorable Mentions.  The Winner will receive:

  • A cash prize of $250 presented to the winner only.
  • Publication of their book by Redhawk Publications.
  • 50 copies of their book.
  • The Winner and two Honorable Mentions may be invited to read at the fall meeting of the NCPS.  

SUBMISSIONS

The 2024 submission period will open June 1 and close July 1, 2024.

  • Each submission should include:
    1. A full-length manuscript of poems (approx. 50 or more).
    2. The manuscript should be correctly formatted with table of contents, title page and page numbers.  Please do not include a bio. or an acknowledgements page if individual poems have been previously published.  These will be requested if the manuscript wins.
    3. Submissions will be read blind.  The author’s name must be removed from all pages of the manuscript, including the title page.  You may not enter the contest if you are a family member, close friend, or current student of the contest’s judge.  No manuscript will be selected if the judge recognizes its author.
    4. No cover letter is necessary, but please include the author’s contact information including name, email, phone number and/or mailing address separate from the manuscript.
    5. Email submissions are strongly encouraged.  If you must submit a hard copy, postal entries may be sent to Sherry Pedersen-Thrasher, 3921 Kildaire Farm Road, Apex, NC 27539 and must be received by the closing date of the contest.
    6. Electronic entries should be sent as attachments in .doc, .docx, or .pdf.  pdf is strongly suggested so as to retain your intended formatting.  Please send the manuscript in an email attachment to lenashullsubmissions@gmail.com.  Email must be received by midnight of the closing day of the contest (July 1, 2024).
    7. All entrants will receive email notification of the Winner and Honorable Mention. Please provide a SASE with your mailed entry if you cannot be reached by email.
    8. No simultaneous submissions.  Our turn-around time is so short.  We won’t tie up your manuscript very long!
    9. All submissions should be original work written by the author without the use of artificial intelligence.

ENTRY FEE

  • The entry fee for the contest is $25.  Pay the contest fee by using the DONATE button below and indicate you are paying the Lena Shull contest entry fee.
  • Checks (payable to NCPS) and postal entries may be sent to Sherry Thrasher at the address below and must be received by the closing date of the contest.  Unpaid entries will not be considered for the contest.

Send postal entries and entry fee to:

Sherry Pedersen-Thrasher
3921 Kildaire Farm Road
Apex, NC  27539

 Any questions?  Email Sherry at sherrythrasherwriter@gmail.com.

Contest Judge

  • The 2024 judge will be Christopher Salerno

Past Judges

  • Connie Post
  • Ray McManus
  • Marcus Jackson
  • Allison E. Joseph
  • Patricia Fargnoli
  • Patricia Jabbeh-Wesley
  • Ann Garbett
  • Tom Yuill
  • Diane Lockward

We look forward to your participation!  Please feel free to contact Sherry Thrasher, contest coordinator, with any questions.

Please see our Facebook page for more information.

For a list of previous winners of the Lena Shull Book Award, click here.

The North Carolina Poetry Society would like to thank Red Hawk Publications for their generous support of and collaboration on this contest.