Noemi Press Book Award
Noemi Press accepts submissions for the Noemi Press Book Award and awards the $2,000 prize to a book of poetry. The prize is open each year from January 3 to May 1. The Noemi Press editorial staff judges, and contest winners are announced in the fall of the submission year.
Guidelines are as follows: Poets at any stage in their career may submit a manuscript (no page limit) with a $30 entry fee. Entrants who pay the fee will receive a title (based on available inventory) from the Noemi Press catalog that has previously been a recipient of the Book Award. All manuscripts are read anonymously. Strip your manuscript of all personally identifying information that may be found, particularly on title pages, in file names, and in the table of contents. Please do not include acknowledgements.
Contest fees help keep Noemi Press independent. If you would like to request a fee waiver, please see the instructions below.
History of the Book Award
Since 2014, the Noemi Press Book Award has been a pillar of Noemi’s catalog, and winners include first book, second book, and mid-career authors. In addition to the winning title(s), finalists from the contest are often published as well, with contest-submitted manuscripts making up over 40% of our catalog.
The contest began by publishing titles in fiction and poetry, then later became inclusive of prose of any genre alongside the poetry winner. In 2023, the Noemi Press Book Award shifted to only one contest per year, in poetry.
Fee Waiver Instructions
We are happy to offer fee waivers to those for whom paying the contest fee would be financially prohibitive. To request a fee waiver, please email sales@noemipress.org with Fee Waiver in the subject line. You do not need to detail your financial hardship, as fee waivers are offered on a community trust-based system. Please attach your manuscript following all other guidelines by the submission deadline.
Past Winners
| Title | Author | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Beauty Talk | Asa Drake | 2024 |
| cells, fully differentiated | Kinsey Cantrell | 2023 |
| Girl Work | Zefyr Lisowski | 2022 |
| Love the World or Get Killed Trying | Alvina Chamberland | 2022 |
| Gorgoneion | Casey Rocheteau | 2021 |
| Nuclear Deal | Nilufar Karimi | 2020 |
| Counterfactual Love Stories & Other Experiments | Jackson Bliss | 2020 |
| Greyhound | Aeon Ginsberg | 2019 |
| Slim Confessions | Sara Minor | 2019 |
| Unmanned | Jessica Rae Bergamino | 2017 |
| Dream of the Trenches | Kate Colby | 2017 |
| Travesty Generator | Lillian-Yvonne Bertram | 2018 |
| Almonds are Members of the Peach Family | Stephanie Sauer | 2018 |
| Indictus | Natalie Eilbert | 2016 |
| The Ladies | Sara Veglahn | 2016 |
| Bone Confetti | Muriel Leung | 2015 |
| Uncountry: A Mythology | Yanara Friedland | 2015 |
| Objects of Attention | Aichlee Bushnell | 2014 |
| Beasts You’ll Never See | Nate Liederbach | 2014 |
| Ending in Planes | Ruth Ellen Kocher | 2013 |
| The University of Pennsylvania | Caren Beilin | 2013 |