WEST HAVEN–Poets worldwide are invited to submit entries for the Vivian Shipley Poetry Award, presented  by the Connecticut Poetry Society (CPS).

Submissions will be accepted until 6 p.m. Sept. 30, 2026. There is a $15 reading fee and a top prize of $1,000.

The Shipley award also features prizes of $100 and $50 for the second and third-place honorees. At the judge’s discretion, honorable mentions may also be awarded.

This year’s judge is  January Gill O’Neil,  a professor at Salem State University and the author of four poetry collections published by CavanKerry Press: Glitter Road (2024), Rewilding (2018), Misery Islands (2014), and Underlife (2009). Glitter Road received the 2024 Poetry by the Sea Best Book Award and the Julia Ward Howe Prize and was a finalist for several honors, including the Massachusetts Book Award. Her poems and essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Poetry, The Nation, American Poetry Review, and the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series.

Entrants are encouraged to submit up to three previously unpublished poems in one document without any contact information in the packet. Include one poem per page, with no poem being more than 80 lines.

Only electronic submissions through Submittable will be accepted. Go to the Nutmeg Poetry award page on the CPS website (ctpoetry.org/vivian-shipley-poetry-award) and click Submittable, or go to Submittable (connecticutriverreview.submittable.com/submit). For more information, email Ed Dzitko, contest coordinator, at contests.ctpoetry@gmail.com.

Expanded coverage of Fairfield County cultural events is made possible with support from the Fairfield University Quick Center for the Arts