Contests

Contests

Tinderbox is pleased to announce our 2025 poetry prizes, the Brett Elizabeth Jenkins Poetry Prize and the Majda Gama Editors’ Prize.

Tinderbox readers and editors will read submissions, 15 of which will be passed on to our judge for their final decision. The judge will select the winner of the Brett Elizabeth Jenkins Poetry Prize. This year’s final judge is poet and critic Dujie Tahat. The editors will select the Majda Gama Editors’ Prize winner from the remaining finalists.

The winners of each prize will receive $500. The winners and all finalists will be published in our Winter Solstice issue in December.

Guidelines:

  • There are no limitations in form or content; we are interested in anything from traditional forms to free verse to lyric essay to flash fiction.
  • No more than eight pages maximum per submission.
  • The entry fee is $15 for three poems. For $20, you can opt to receive feedback on your submission.

We will be accepting submissions through Submittable starting August 1 and closing submissions September 15th.

Previous Contest Winners

  1. Nancy Lynée WooI Want🏆 Brett Elizabeth Jenkins Poetry Prize, December 2024
  2. Issam ZinehWhen We Look at Ancient Mesopotamian Myth🏆 Majda Gama Editors' Prize, December 2024
  3. Erica ReidTremolo🏆 Honorable Mention, December 2024
  4. Claire PinkstonNocturne🏆 Brett Elizabeth Jenkins Poetry Prize, December 2023
  5. linda harris dolani have genetic heart disease.
    (or: unsaid things.)
    (or: to my husband, on my death.)
    🏆 Majda Gama Editors' Prize, December 2023
  6. Sara ElkamelI Have Not Been A Child In Years🏆 Brett Elizabeth Jenkins Poetry Prize, December 2022
  7. River Elizabeth HallStraying🏆 Majda Gama Editors' Prize, December 2022
  8. JJ Peñaour bodies are meant to be loud🏆 Brett Elizabeth Jenkins Poetry Prize, January 2022
  9. Ayokunle FalomoETYMOLOGICON🏆 Majda Gama Editors' Prize, January 2022
  10. F. SeckRecollection🏆 Brett Elizabeth Jenkins Poetry Prize, December 2019
  11. Selma AsotićNana🏆 Runner Up, December 2019
  12. Threa AlmontaserYemen Is🏆 Tinderbox Poetry Prize, December 2018
  13. Raena ShiraliAt Home, In the Empire🏆 Runner Up, December 2018
  14. Ajanae DawkinsOn Classrooms and Ghosts🏆 Editors' Choice, December 2018
  15. Shay AlexiON RECLAMATION🏆 Tinderbox Poetry Prize, December 2017
  16. Norma Liliana ValdezTepoztlán Blues🏆 Tinderbox Poetry Prize, December 2016
  17. Carlina DuanYears🏆 Runner Up, December 2016
  18. J.M. GambleSeek🏆 Tinderbox Poetry Prize, December 2015
  19. Sage HahnPut a Big Question Mark on Your Film🏆 Runner Up, December 2015