Center for Book Arts promotes active explorations of artistic practices related to the book as an art object. We are committed to providing a nurturing environment for artists to grow and learn together, with access to the resources, equipment ,and skills needed for artists and writers to take book production into their own hands, and giving creative voices a tool to self amplify without the need to rely on the gallery model or commercial pressures.
As a space for research, education, exhibition, making, and community building, we offer opportunities to artists and writers through a variety of programs throughout the year. Current opportunities are listed below.
Center for Book Arts invites submissions to its annual Poetry Chapbook Program by December 15, 2025.
The winning manuscript will be determined in May 2026.
As part of the competition award package, CBA commissions artists to design and produce a limited-edition of 100 chapbooks for the competition winner's manuscript, a limited-edition of 100 chapbooks for a manuscript by the guest judge, and a limited-edition broadside of 100 for each runner-up featuring one poem from their respective manuscripts.
The competition winner receives ten copies of their chapbook, a $500 honorarium, a $500 stipend to participate in a competition reading public program, a week-long stay at Millay Arts during their Wintertide Rustic Retreat season (valued at $480), and one copy of the guest judge's chapbook as well as the runners-up's broadsides.
The two runners up each receive ten copies of their respective limited-edition broadside, a $250 honorarium to participate in the competition reading, and a copy of the winner’s chapbook as well as a copy of the guest judge’s chapbook.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Please submit a collection or sequence of original poems or a single long poem that does not exceed 450 lines or 21 pages. The author’s name should not appear anywhere in the manuscript or anywhere in the file as all submissions are kept anonymous to the panel of judges. Manuscripts should be typed, with pages numbered and formatted with easy-to-read font.
Translations of the author's own work are permitted. Translations of other writers' work will not be accepted unless the piece is specifically and consensually co-authored by both writer and translator.
This program only accepts text manuscripts. We are not receiving visual poems or illustrated manuscripts at this time.
Please provide a title page, table of contents, and a separate acknowledgments page containing prior magazine or anthology publication of individual poems at the end of the manuscript. Poems that have been published elsewhere are eligible for submission. Please note that the 450 lines or 21-page limit does not include the title or acknowledgements pages. The file name should match the title of the submitted manuscript. Only .PDF, .DOCX. and .DOC files accepted.
Writers will be notified of the status of their manuscript via email. Due to the high volume of applications, we are not able to provide feedback at this time.
Questions can be directed to CBA Artist Programs Manager Camilo Otero at camilo@centerforbookarts.org
Application Fee: $30
Application Fee Waiver: October 1-October 15, 2025
Application Deadline: December 15, 2025
SUBMISSION AGREEMENT
When you submit to our annual Chapbook Contest and/or publish with Center for Book Arts, you agree to:
1. Serial rights: we accept simultaneous submissions, but if your work is accepted elsewhere, we ask you to let us know as soon as possible so we can withdraw your application.
2. Rights reverting back to you if your body of work is accepted and published by CBA. You are free to republish or to give others permission to republish. We ask that if you do so, you use the credit as follows: [publication name] by [author] was first published with the Center for Book Arts in [year]. If you have any questions, do let us know!
3. Non-exclusive reprint rights: we may utilize parts of your work for promotional materials, for example, to market our next contest. If we intend on utilizing your work for something we intend to sell, you will be contacted about compensation before we move forward.