All Submission Must Be Electronic.

In order to submit entries, use our online submissions manager.

Members submit their poems for free. For non-members, the submission fee for each poem is five dollars. Click here to join.

Submission periods:
Fall: October 15th through November 15th
Spring: January 15th through February 15th

​

Entries must be ORIGINAL, submitted using a standard 12-point font, and must adhere to the following specifications:

• Length not to exceed THIRTY-SIX lines (including epigraphs and stanza-break lines)

• Text single-spaced

​​​

An author may submit only one poem for each prize.

 

An entry must include:

The poem, with the name of the prize and the title of the poem at the top of the page. The author’s name and address must not appear on the page carrying the text of the poem.

 

The same poem may not be entered for more than one prize at the same time. A poem which has failed to win a prize may later, after the results of the first competition have been made public, be submitted for any other prize for which it is suitable.

 

Each entry must be original, unpublished (either in print or online or placed on exhibition), written in English, and not currently submitted for publication elsewhere or to another contest. Distribution in workshops or closed online critique groups does not constitute publication.

 

Authors grant the PSSC first publication and electronic reprint rights to prize-winning work. Authors retain all re-publication rights and are free to reprint the work in any publication, subject to acknowledging original publication in The Poetry Society of South Carolina Yearbook. The author guarantees that the submitted work has not previously been published elsewhere.

 

The winner of a prize is ineligible for the same prize the following year.

 

At the discretion of the judges, one or two honorable mentions may be awarded for any prize. To keep these entries eligible for resubmission, titles will be withheld.

 

Contest results will be announced at the February and May meetings and posted online at the PSSC website and on Facebook.

 

The PSSC reserves the right to withhold any announced prize.

 

Please see Skylark Guidelines for entry if you are a high school student or teacher.

​

NOTE: Members submit their poems for free. Non-members must pay $5 for each poem.