$2000 Bob Hicok Fellowship for Poets
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The Bob Hicok Poetry Fellowship is a year-long invitation to write with funding, education, mentorship and a community that cares.
We welcome poets at any stage of their practice who are writing in English. One poet will be selected for the 2025 Fellowship. Five finalists will also be recognized.
In it’s inaugural year, this fellowship offers a $1000 cash prize, $1000 in workshop credits, a 1:1 conversation with Bob Hicok (our most favorite poet!) and a full year to develop a new portfolio of poems. You’ll also receive a lifetime membership to ONLY POEMS, along with space to share your work and process through a quarterly column, an in-depth post-fellowship interview, and a featured portfolio on our website and socials.
In addition to the fellow, five finalists will receive $200 in workshop credits, and lifetime membership to ONLY POEMS.
We’ve published debut authors and Pulitzer winners, poets who work in libraries, bakeries, NASA labs alike. We care about the work and the spirit behind it. We can’t wait to read your poetry!
➡️ SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Send us 5-10 pages of poetry.
Each poem starts on a new page.
At least one poem must be recent and unpublished.
Previously published work is fine otherwise — just let us know where it first appeared.
We love cover letters and would prefer knowing whose work we are reading. You are welcome to share a brief note or statement on why you’re applying for this fellowship and what you’d like to get out of it as well as your publication history, if any, though that would not influence our decision. Please make sure that the document of your poems is stripped of any biographical information—use the cover letter field on Submittable for this.
Do not withdraw if work in consideration gets published elsewhere, please.
We will respond to everyone in November. The first ever Bob Hicok Fellow will work with us throughout 2026!
Your submission comes with a 1-year ONLY POEMS membership. We'll send you information about access alongside our decision on your submission.