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Palette Poetry Spilled Ink Challenge

A project of Palette Poetry (see other related projects).

About

Palette is excited to announce the Spilled Ink Challenge, a call for poets to share their raw, confessional, and accidental poems. We welcome emerging and established poets to submit poems that gnaw at the raw and vulnerable parts of the human experience, those secrets that weren’t meant to be spilled. Take inspiration from Anne Sexton’s epitomizing confessions in Love Poems, Larry Levis’s Winter Stars collection on family estrangement and grief, the articulate rage of Frank Bidart’s Watching the Spring Festival, or Louise Glück’s Winter Recipes from the Collective for stream of consciousness pondering on life, love, and death. We look forward to reading your poetic experimentations, your meditations on the difficult questions of life, your lamentations of lost love, and everything in between.

Fees Notice: This project charges fees (or requires purchases) for all submissions.
The fee range is USD $20 to $149 (average to above average for contests).

Country of Publication & Year Established

United States
Established in 2026

Publication Medium & Contest Frequency

Electronic Publication Electronic Publication
One-time contest

AI Policy

Human-created work only; no AI use allowed

Poetry Open Fee-based

Deadline:

27 September 2026* (approx. 10 days from now).

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience.

Genres:

General

Lengths:

Poem: No line limits known; Up to 3 pieces.

Poetry Forms:

Open to all/most Forms.

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Literary.

Topics:

Open to all/most Topics including...
Other: See guidelines.

Winner's Prize:

Professional payment (US$50 or more per poem) Professional payment. Details: USD $500 prize for winner.

Submissions:

Method: Submittable submission manager.
Reprints: Reprints are NOT allowed.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are allowed.
Multiple entries: Multiple entries are allowed.
Media: Text.

Always check guidelines for details and restrictions. If you aren't familiar with these terms, see our glossary.
* We do not know the time and/or timezone, so we cannot be more precise. Submit early to avoid disappointment.

Palette Poetry Spilled Ink Challenge Submission Statistics

The statistics in this section are compiled from submission reports sent to us through our submission tracker. They are not provided by the publication's editors/staff or by Duotrope's admins. Information in this section is updated a few times per day. Learn more about the statistics.

We have not received any submission reports for this listing in the past 12 months.

Your Submissions

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The Brush & Lyre Prize DNQ  Charges fees for all submissions
The Love & Eros Prize  Charges fees for all submissions
Palette Chapbook Prize DNQ  Charges fees for all submissions
Palette Poetry
The Palette Poetry [FREE] Challenge CLOSED
Palette Poetry Ekphrastic Poetry Prize  Charges fees for all submissions
The Palette Poetry Micro Chapbook Prize CLOSED  Charges fees for all submissions
Palette Poetry Nature Poetry Prize  Charges fees for all submissions
Palette Poetry Previously Published Poem Prize DNQ  Charges fees for all submissions
The Palette Poetry Prize DNQ  Charges fees for all submissions
Palette Poetry Queer Poetry Challenge  Charges fees for all submissions
Palette Poetry Rejected Poetry Prize CLOSED  Charges fees for all submissions
The Palette Poetry Spotlight Award CLOSED  Charges fees for all submissions
The Pen Pal Poetry Challenge CLOSED  Charges fees for all submissions
The Resistance & Resilience Prize DNQ  Charges fees for all submissions
The Rising Poet Prize  Charges fees for all submissions
The Sappho Prize for Women Poets DNQ  Charges fees for all submissions

Before Submitting

We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is correct. It is not unusual for publications to evolve or close without notice. We do our best to keep up, but it isn't always possible. Duotrope listings do not imply endorsement or recommendation of the project being listed. Before submitting, you should use your own judgment to determine whether the project meets your standards.

  • Always read the full guidelines provided by the publisher.
  • Try to read at least one previous publication to get a better idea of what the editor would like to see.
  • Unless the publisher's guidelines state otherwise, always use industry standard manuscript formatting.
  • Be professional, patient, and persistent.

Dates

Last Updated: 17 Sep 2026

We check their guidelines for changes every four weeks, and we audit the listing twice a year.

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