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The Orison Chapbook Prize Orison Books

Each year from April 1 – July 1 we accept submissions of chapbook manuscripts (20 – 45 pp.) in any genre (poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, or hybrid) for The Orison Chapbook Prize, judged by Orison Books founder and editor, Luke Hankins.

The winner will be awarded publication, a $300 cash prize, and 20 copies of the chapbook, in addition to a standard royalties contract.

Simultaneous submissions are accepted. Current or former students of the judge, or anyone with a close personal relationship with the judge, are not eligible to submit. Existing Orison Books authors are not eligible to submit. In the event that the judge does not select a winner, all entry fees will be refunded to the entrants. All finalist manuscripts will be considered for publication under a standard royalties contract.

We plan to announce the winner and finalists by October 15.

About the Judge:

Luke Hankins is the founder and editor of Orison Books. He is the author of two poetry collections, Radiant Obstacles and Weak Devotions, and a collection of essays, The Work of Creation. A volume of his translations from the French of Stella Vinitchi Radulescu, A Cry in the Snow & Other Poems, was released in an international edition from Seagull Books in 2019. Testament, a chapbook of poems, was published by Texas Review Press in 2023. Hankins is a graduate of the Indiana University MFA program, where he held the Yusef Komunyakaa Fellowship in Poetry. His poems, essays, and translations have appeared in numerous publications, including 32 Poems, American Literary Review, The Collagist, Image, Linebreak, New England Review, New Poetry in Translation, Pleiades, Poetry International, Verse, West Branch, World Literature Today, and The Writer’s Chronicle, as well as on the American Public Media radio program “On Being.”

Chapbook

Temp Closed
Opens on Tuesday, April 1, 2025 12:00 AM EDT (in 172 days).

Each year from April 1 – July 1 we accept submissions of chapbook manuscripts (20 – 45 pp.) in any genre (poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, or hybrid) for The Orison Chapbook Prize, judged by Orison Books founder and editor, Luke Hankins.

The winner will be awarded publication, a $300 cash prize, and 20 copies of the chapbook in addition to a standard royalties contract.

Current or former students of the judge, or anyone with a close personal relationship with the judge, are not eligible to submit. Existing Orison Books authors are not eligible to submit. In the event that the judge does not select a winner, all entry fees will be refunded to the entrants. All finalist manuscripts will be considered for publication under a standard royalties contract.

  • Do not include your name anywhere in your manuscript file or file name, but only in your biographical note and cover letter.
  • Please include an acknowledgments page in your manuscript listing any periodicals where individual pieces from your manuscript first appeared.
  • Original English work only; no translations.
  • Individual poems, stories, or essays—or excerpts—may have been previously published in periodicals and/or chapbooks, but the manuscript as a whole must not have been published in book form, whether digital or in print. Self-published manuscripts are considered previously published and are not eligible.
  • Entry Fee: $15.
  • Electronic submissions through Duosuma only.
  • Simultaneous submissions are accepted; please notify us immediately should a manuscript be accepted for publication elsewhere.
  • Multiple manuscripts may be submitted; each manuscript must be accompanied by a separate entry fee.
  • We plan to announce the winner and finalists by October 15.
  • Orison Books is committed to running ethical and transparent contests. Current or former students of a judge, or anyone with a close personal relationship with that judge, are not eligible to submit in the category in question. Judges also never see author names until after they have made their selections. Orison Books also undertakes never to extend contest deadlines, except in the case of technical problems or other events that would prevent submitters from entering the contest by the original deadline.

About the Judge:

Luke Hankins is the founder and editor of Orison Books. He is the author of two poetry collections, Radiant Obstacles and Weak Devotions, and a collection of essays, The Work of Creation. A volume of his translations from the French of Stella Vinitchi Radulescu, A Cry in the Snow & Other Poems, was released in an international edition from Seagull Books in 2019. Testament, a chapbook of poems, was published by Texas Review Press in 2023. Hankins is a graduate of the Indiana University MFA program, where he held the Yusef Komunyakaa Fellowship in Poetry. His poems, essays, and translations have appeared in numerous publications, including 32 Poems, American Literary Review, The Collagist, Image, Linebreak, New England Review, New Poetry in Translation, Pleiades, Poetry International, Verse, West Branch, World Literature Today, and The Writer’s Chronicle, as well as on the American Public Media radio program “On Being.”

Other Related Projects

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The Orison Prizes in Poetry & Fiction