Tammis Day Poetry Prize
Submissions are open March 1, 2026-August 1, 2026.
Nine Syllables Press is delighted to announce our first annual Tammis Day Prize. Diane Seuss will be the final judge for 2026. The winner will be awarded $1000, author’s copies, a reading at Smith College, and a two week artist's residency at Vermont Studio Center. The book will be published within a year. Winners will be announced by February, 2027. This is the only prize of its kind, and we are so delighted for this opportunity to champion the work of older women poets.
Submissions are open March 1 - August 1, 2026. There is a $30 submission fee. Please read the guidelines below carefully before sending us your work.
If the fee is prohibitive for you to submit, please email 9syllablespress (a) smith.edu and ask for a fee waiver.
The Tammis Day Poetry Prize is awarded annually for a debut full-length collection by a woman poet aged 40 or over. This prize is in collaboration with the Boutelle-Day Poetry Center at Smith College, and in the spirit of Smith’s Ada Comstock Program, which creates opportunities for older women students to complete their Bachelor’s degree, as Tammis Day herself did. The Tammis Day Poetry Prize recognizes that many factors delay women in their publishing careers, just as they can be delayed in getting their degrees, and celebrates the rich experiences and perspectives they bring to poetry.
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Who can submit?
Trans and nonbinary poets over 40 years of age of all genders, and cis women poets can submit their chapbook to the Tammis Day Poetry Prize. You must be over 40 at the time of submitting your work. We especially encourage trans/LGBTQIA+ poets and BIPOC poets to submit their work. Poets cannot have previously published full-length collections of poetry (48 pages or longer), but can have published chapbooks. Individual poems from the collection may have been published elsewhere. Poets outside the US are also welcome to submit.
9SP complies with the CLMP Code of Ethics in the administration of this contest. The judge will select a manuscript in an anonymous review process and will not award the prize to any writer whose personal relationship to the judge poses a conflict of interest. Current students, staff, and faculty at Smith College are not eligible to submit, and those with a personal relationship with the final judge are not eligible to submit.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed, please withdraw your work if it is accepted elsewhere.
What to submit?
Send us an original, unpublished poetry collection of 48-100 pages. Please note, we are not able to consider collections which include images such as photographs, collage, or other visual media.
How to format it?
Do NOT include your name, acknowledgements, or any identifying details (address, social media handles, etc) anywhere in your manuscript. If your name appears in a poem, such as a ghazal, please redact it with a [ ].
Please use a standard typeface such as Times New Roman or Garamond, size 12.
Include a table of contents at the beginning. This does not count towards your page count.
Please include page numbers on all pages.
Please note, we are not able to consider collections which include images such as photographs, collage, or other visual media.
AI generated work policy:
We do not accept manuscripts which have been generated using AI (ChatGPT or similar software). Do not submit AI-generated work.
What if my manuscript is 46 pages long? Or 110?
48-100 pages is a guideline, and considered standard length for a full length poetry book. We will consider manuscripts close to 48-100 pages, a few pages more or less will not disqualify you. If your manuscript is significantly less than 48, please submit to our chapbook contest instead.
Who reads the manuscripts?
Submissions are read anonymously by the Editor and a group of Smith alums who are published poets. The final selections from the readers are passed on to the final judge, who chooses the winner.
Students who are enrolled in The Chapbook in Practice: Design at Smith College work to design the cover and interior for the winning manuscript. We are very excited about this opportunity for alumni to engage in the hands-on experience of running a small press.
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