Book contest: Pavement Saw Press 2012 Transcontinental Award

The Transcontinental Award is for first or second full length books of poetry. All contributors receive books, chapbooks and journals equal to, or more than, the entry fee.
Electronic and mailed entries must meet these requirements:

1. The manuscript should be at least 48 pages of poetry and no more than 70 pages of poetry in length. Separations between sections are NOT a part of the page count.
2. A one page cover letter. Include a brief biography, the book's title, your name, address, and telephone number, and, if you have e-mail, your e-mail address. This should be followed by a page which lists publication acknowledgments for the book. For each acknowledgement mention the publisher (journal, anthology, chapbook, etc.) and the poem published.
3. The manuscript should be bound with a single clip and begin with a title page, including the book's title, your name, address, and telephone number, and, if you have e-mail, your e-mail address.
4. The second page should have only the title of the manuscript. There are to be no acknowledgments or mention of the author's name from this page forward. Submissions to the contest are blind judged.
5. There should be no more than one poem on each page. The manuscript can contain pieces longer than one page.
6. Pages should be numbered, beginning with the first page of poetry.

Each year Pavement Saw Press publishes at least one book of poetry and/or prose poems from manuscripts received during this competition. Selections are chosen through a blind judging process. The competition is open to anyone who has not previously published one, or more than one, volume of poetry or prose poetry. The author receives $1,000 and five percent of the 1,000 copy press run.

Previous judges have included Judith Vollmer, David Bromige, Bin Ramke, and Howard McCord. This year David Baratier will be the judge; past students, Pavement Saw Press interns, and employees are not allowed to submit. All poems must be original, all prose must be original, fiction or translations are not acceptable. All writers without a full length book or those who have published only one full length book are eligible. Writers who have had a second volume of poetry and/or prose poetry under 40 pages printed or printed in limited editions of no more than 500 copies are also eligible. Submissions are accepted during the months of June, July, and until August 15th. All submissions must have a Monday, August 15th, 2012, or earlier, postmark. This is an award for first or second books only.

If you wish to send via regular mail your manuscript should be accompanied by a check in the amount of $20.00 made payable to Pavement Saw Press. All US contributors to the contest will receive books, chapbooks and journals equal to, or more than, the entry fee. Add $3 (US) for other countries to cover the extra postal charge. Do not include an SASE for notification of results, this information will be sent with the free book. Do not send the only copy of your work. All manuscripts are recycled and individual comments on the manuscripts cannot be made. Entry Fee: $20 for mailed US and Canadian entries, $23 for mailed overseas entries, $27 to submit electronically (all entries, world wide).

If you wish to submit electronically, you should send $27.00 via Paypal to<info(at)pavementsaw.org> (replace (at) with @). We will then send you an e-mail confirmation as well as instructions on where to e-mail the manuscript. Electronic submissions need to be sent as PDF files or as word (.doc) files. Other formats are not accepted. The extra cost is to cover the Paypal fees as well as the time, labor, ink, and so on, to print out your manuscript. In addition to the prize winner, sometimes another anonymous manuscript is chosen, if enough entries arrive. This "editors choice" manuscript will be published under a standard royalty contract. A decision will be reached in December or January.

Entries should be sent to:

Pavement Saw Press
Transcontinental Award Entry
321 Empire Street
Montpelier, OH 43543