Cantor Prize Submission Guidelines

Cantor Prize

For those who have submitted in the past please note that the Cantor contest is being honored with its own prize and some details have changed. Please read carefully. Eligible poets can submit to both contests.

Our final judge for 2023 will be award winning poet Deborah Kay Kelly of Colorado.

• An international poetry prize open to English language writers of any age living in Colorado, or writing about Colorado.
• Prizes include a $500 first place award and two $100 finalist awards.
• All styles are welcome.

CANTOR SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Online Entry Form

Submit:

1. Bio: 125 words or less.
2. Headshot: jpg or jpeg only, min. 250 KB max 2 MB
3. Poems: separate .doc or .docx files for each poem submitted (editable .pdf files okay)
4. Cover Letter or on-line submission form giving contacts: Name, Poem(s) submitted, email, physical address, town, zip, and phone number

Poem File Format
Each poem file should be named using

1. up to the first six letters of the poets last name with the first letter capitalized
2. up to the first six letters of the poem’s title with the first letter capitalized
3. the capitalized initial C for Cantor entry
4. the last two numbers of the contest year submitted

Examples: if Art Goodtimes were submitting his poem Kinship for this year’s contest the file name sent to us would look like this: GoodtiKinshiC22
– Gary Snyder’s “Prayer to the Great Family” would look like: SnyderPrayerC22
– Marge Piercy’s “To Be Of Use” would look like: PiercyToBeOfC22
– Al Foy’s “Dog” would look like: FoyDogC22

Text of File
Each poem must be within a separate file with no names or identifying info in the file: only poem text and title. No multiple poem files will be allowed. Only the file name will identify the author and the poem.

Payment

• Entry fees are best paid online. Base fee is $6 per poem. The third poem of three gets a $3 discount. Thus 2 poems are $12, 3 poems are $15, 4 poems $21, 5 poems $27, 6 poems $30, 7 poems $36, 8 poems $42, 9 poems $45, et cetera in that sequence.
• Snail mail submissions (poems and check) will incur a $10 handling charge in addition to fees and can be sent to Telluride Institute, Talking Gourds Program, P.O. Box 160, Norwood CO 81423. Checks can be made out to the “Telluride Institute” with a note “Fischer Contest fee” in
  the bottom left corner. Snail mail submissions will not be returned.

Feedback

• Feedback from one of our preliminary judges will offer some comments on the poem and how it stacked up in the contest. A surcharge of $5 per poem will be assessed for this feature.
• Submissions for feedback must be digital only and submitted contact information must be current.

Judging
Poems will be divided into 4 categories through 3 rounds of judging, two preliminary and one final. All Honorable Mention poems that make the second cut will be sent anonymously to the final judge

1. Contest winners and finalists
2. Honorable Mention (those who make the second cut)
3. Runner-ups (those who make the first cut)
4. Heartsong entries (we honor all who share their heartsongs with us.)

Deadline
Submissions must be received online or in P.O. Box 160 by the 30th of August each year.

Winners
Winners and finalists will be notified privately. A public announcement will be made on the Talking Gourds website by early October. Winners and finalists will receive their checks and certificates in the mail. Each of them will be invited to be a featured reader at our Bardic Trail Zoom Poetry Series hosted through the Wilkinson Public Library through the following year (in this case 2023). Featured readers receive a $100 honorarium for their virtual performance.