The reading period for the Leonard Cohen Poetry Prize runs from September 21 to November 7 (LC’s birth anniversary to death anniversary).

$1000 will be awarded to a poem that explores the intersections of love, faith & sex. Ten finalists will each be awarded $250 (up from 4 finalists last year!)

➡️ Read More About the Prize & Ethos

📮 SUBMISSION GUIDELINES📮

• Send us up to 3 pages of poetry.
• Each poem starts on a new page.
• In the spirit of Leonard Cohen, we ask that your poems deal in some way with the intersections of Love, Faith, & Sex.
• Open to anyone writing in English, anywhere in the world (with a special encouragement to poets submitting from outside North America).
• We only accept previously unpublished work. Self-published pieces (blogs, social media, personal sites) are welcome, but poems published in journals, anthologies, or books are not eligible.
• Please withdraw your poems if they get accepted elsewhere.
• We love reading cover letters. You’re welcome to share your love for Leonard Cohen, or your publication history, if any, though these are read only after the decisions are made and do  not influence the outcome. Please make sure that the document of your poems is stripped of any biographical information—use the cover letter field on Submittable for this.
• Submission Fee: $18
• Each submission comes with a one-month Best membership to Chill Subs and a one-month ONLY POEMS Membership. We want every poet who submits to our prizes to receive more than just a contest entry.
• If the fee is a barrier to you, please refer to out waiver policy here.

Judging process: Each submission is read by at least 3 readers. The ones that move to the next round are read by 5 more readers. Longlist is read by our full team of 35+ readers and Editors. Shortlist is discussed by the Editors. Final decisions for the winner & finalists are made by the Editor-in-Chief, Karan Kapoor.

Judging criteria: In evaluating submissions, we look for originality, emotional intensity, musicality of language, and a deep engagement with the themes of Love, Faith, and Sex.

Timeline: We respond to everyone before the end of this January. Winners and Honorable Mentions are announced and published in February.

Read our statement on Transparency & Fairness here.

PLEASE NOTE: The Leonard Cohen Family Trust does not endorse this award, ONLY POEMS, or the prize winners. It is due to their generosity that we are allowed to name this prize after Leonard Cohen, the Poet Laureate of the World

Send us up to 10 pages of poetry.

We only accept previously uncurated work.  This means that yes — you can submit poems that have previously appeared across social media, blog posts, Discord channels, scribbled on your foggy bathroom mirror, etc. But if a poem has been published in a magazine or anthology edited by someone who’s not your mom, then no.

We encourage simultaneous submissions. Feel free to submit your work to all the wonderful places you think will be a good home for your poems. Do not withdraw your poems if they get accepted elsewhere — if we like your work, we’ll find a way to work with you.

If we have previously declined your submission, you can submit again whenever (we get it, we're unhinged poets too lol). 

Though our general response time is 3-4 months, in this category we'll respond within 2 weeks. Sometimes, if we are considering your work for publication, this might take 3 weeks in total. We might also email you separately in this event to request more poems. 

We offer $77 to all our published poets. This is per contribution and not per piece. 

Submit one poem responding to anything in the news.

This need not be a political event, just something in the last month or so. The more recent the better. Please include a link to the news you're responding to in the same document as the poem.

Selected poems will be published on ONLY POEMS DAILY, our brand new Substack and shared on our socials, where over 50K+ readers will experience your work.

Submissions are free. We pay $22 per accepted poem.

There's an optional $5 Tip Jar. As a fully volunteer-run publication, we’re always grateful for your support.

If you’d like insight into your work, we offer editorial feedback for a fee.

You may have one active submission in the “Poets Howl" category at a time. Once you’ve received a response, you’re welcome to submit again. 

You’re free to submit to other categories alongside this one.

For example: Anna submits one poem under “Short Poem,” one under “Ekphrasis,” one under “Poets Howl,” and a packet of 10 pages under “Fast Response” — all at once. Totally fine.

Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Please withdraw your submission immediately if accepted elsewhere.

You'll hear back within three months.

PLEASE ALSO NOTE:

This category owes its inspiration to the phenomenal Poets Respond feature that Rattle does every week. Tim Green's been running that series for as long as we can remember. Needless to say we're big fans of that column.

Submit one poem, max 10 lines!

→ if it's longer we'll reject without reading, sorry).

Selected poems will be published on ONLY POEMS DAILY, our brand new Substack and shared on our socials, where over 50K+ readers will experience your work.

Submissions are free. We pay $22 per accepted poem.

There's an optional $5 Tip Jar. As a fully volunteer-run publication, we’re always grateful for your support.

If you’d like insight into your work, we offer editorial feedback for a fee.

You may have one active submission in the “Short Poem” category at a time. Once you’ve received a response, you’re welcome to submit again. 

You’re free to submit to other categories alongside this one.

For example: Anna submits one poem under “Short Poem,” one under “Ekphrasis,” one under “Poets Howl,” and a packet of 10 pages under “Fast Response” — all at once. Totally fine.

Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Please withdraw your submission immediately if accepted elsewhere.

You'll hear back within three months.

Submit one poem responding to a piece of visual art (painting, sculpture, photography, etc.) 

Ensure that you have the rights to use the artist's work for this purpose OR that the piece is in the public domain. Give credit in both cases. Please include either a link to the artwork (or upload a picture) that you're responding to in the same document as the poem. 

Selected poems will be published on ONLY POEMS DAILY, our brand new Substack and shared on our socials, where over 50K+ readers will experience your work.

Submissions are free. We pay $22 per accepted poem.

There's an optional $5 Tip Jar. As a fully volunteer-run publication, we’re always grateful for your support.

If you’d like insight into your work, we offer editorial feedback for a fee.

You may have one active submission in the “Ekphrasis" category at a time. Once you’ve received a response, you’re welcome to submit again. 

You’re free to submit to other categories alongside this one.

For example: Anna submits one poem under “Short Poem,” one under “Ekphrasis,” one under “Poets Howl,” and a packet of 10 pages under “Fast Response” — all at once. Totally fine.

Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Please withdraw your submission immediately if accepted elsewhere.

You'll hear back within three months.