THE BITTER OLEANDER PRESS LIBRARY OF POETRY AWARD for 2025
OUR 14th ANNUAL BOPLOPA COMPETITION
CONGRATULATIONS!!! to Jeff Royce of North Palm Beach, FL whose thoughtful and clear manuscript Angel Trumpets has won the 13th annual Bitter Oleander Press Library of Poetry Award (BOPLOPA) for 2024. Judging this year's competition were the editors. Jeff Royce's prize of $1500 is in addition to his entire collection being published early in 2025 by The Bitter Oleander Press.
GUIDELINES FOR OUR 2025 COMPETITION
• An award of $1500 plus book publication of the winning manuscript is open to anyone writing in the English language. It is not open to friends, employees or relatives of The Bitter Oleander Press.
• Translations are not eligible for this award.
• You may send your entry through the US Postal Service, but do not send it certified with a return-request receipt. Include a stamped self-addressed postcard for receipt notification purposes.
• Online submissions will be allowed through our SUBMITTABLE format when the competition opens on May 1st, 2025 until it ends on June 15th, 2025 right here:
• For posted entries, manuscripts must be typed and range between 48 and 80 pages of poetry in length.
• Please use no binder or paper clips, no plastic sheets, hard cover binders or loose-leaf binders.
• Manuscripts should be paginated and include a table of contents.
• Poems having previously appeared in journals, chapbooks or anthologies should be included on a separate page listing those acknowledgments.
• Include two (2) cover sheets if posting your entry through the US Postal Service:
One with title and author's contact information.
The other stating the title only.
• For Online entries include only a title page with no name or address.
Our SUBMITTABLE format will provide that information for us.
Author's name must not appear anywhere else in the manuscript.
• If mailed, manuscripts must be postmarked between and including the dates of May 1st, 2025 to June 15th, 2025.
Any early or later entries will be disallowed and entry fees returned.
• Please include a self-addressed stamped business size envelope (SASE) for notification of result if you're submitting by regular mail.
• Manuscripts must include an entry, reading, and processing fee of $28.00. Checks or money orders in U.S. funds made out to The Bitter Oleander Press:
• Payment for online entries may be made through our submittable Format for $28.00 as well when the competition becomes active on May 1st, 2025.
• Due to the high volume of submissions, all physical manuscripts received will be recycled except for the winning one
• All entrants may expect notification in September of 2025
• Winning entry may expect publication of their book in the Spring of 2026
• The procedures for this Award follow the strict guidelines set forth by CLMP's (Community of Literary Magazines & Presses) Contest Code of Ethics:
• CLMP's community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to (1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; (2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines--defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and (3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.
Any other questions concerning this Award may be forwarded to us by e-mail:
info@bitteroleander.com
OUR TWELVE PREVIOUS WINNERS:
---2012---Patty Dickson Pieczka for Painting the Egret's Echo
---2013---Tom Holmes for The Cave
---2014---Katherine Sánchez Espano for The Sky's Dustbin
---2015---Christien Gholson for All the Beautiful Dead
---2016---Austin LaGrone for Call Me When You Get to Rosie's
---2017---Ray Keifetz for Night Farming in Bosnia
---2018---Serena Fusek for Ancient Maps and a Tarot Pack
---2019---Sean Thomas Dougherty for Not All Saints
---2020---Stephanie Dickinson for Blue Swan, Black Swan: The Trakl Diaries
---2021---Andrea Moorhead for Tracing the Distance
---2022---Laurie Blauner for Come Closer
---2023---Robert Moore (Red Hawk) for Book of Lamentations
---2024---Jeff Royce for Angel Trumpets
PLEASE SUBMIT ALL POSTAL MAIL ENTRIES TO:
The Bitter Oleander Press Library of Poetry Award--2024
The Bitter Oleander Press
4983 Tall Oaks Drive
Fayetteville, New York 13066-9776
USA
Our SUBMITTABLE format will provide that information for us.
Author's name must not appear anywhere else in the manuscript.
Any early or later entries will be disallowed and entry fees returned.
• Due to the high volume of submissions, all physical manuscripts received will be recycled except for the winning one
• All entrants may expect notification in September of 2025
• Winning entry may expect publication of their book in the Spring of 2026
• The procedures for this Award follow the strict guidelines set forth by CLMP's (Community of Literary Magazines & Presses) Contest Code of Ethics:
• CLMP's community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to (1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; (2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines--defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and (3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.
Any other questions concerning this Award may be forwarded to us by e-mail:
info@bitteroleander.com
OUR TWELVE PREVIOUS WINNERS:
---2012---Patty Dickson Pieczka for Painting the Egret's Echo
---2013---Tom Holmes for The Cave
---2014---Katherine Sánchez Espano for The Sky's Dustbin
---2015---Christien Gholson for All the Beautiful Dead
---2016---Austin LaGrone for Call Me When You Get to Rosie's
---2017---Ray Keifetz for Night Farming in Bosnia
---2018---Serena Fusek for Ancient Maps and a Tarot Pack
---2019---Sean Thomas Dougherty for Not All Saints
---2020---Stephanie Dickinson for Blue Swan, Black Swan: The Trakl Diaries
---2021---Andrea Moorhead for Tracing the Distance
---2022---Laurie Blauner for Come Closer
---2023---Robert Moore (Red Hawk) for Book of Lamentations
---2024---Jeff Royce for Angel Trumpets
PLEASE SUBMIT ALL POSTAL MAIL ENTRIES TO:
The Bitter Oleander Press Library of Poetry Award--2024
The Bitter Oleander Press
4983 Tall Oaks Drive
Fayetteville, New York 13066-9776
USA
• Winning entry may expect publication of their book in the Spring of 2026
• The procedures for this Award follow the strict guidelines set forth by CLMP's (Community of Literary Magazines & Presses) Contest Code of Ethics:
• CLMP's community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to (1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; (2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines--defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and (3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.
Any other questions concerning this Award may be forwarded to us by e-mail: info@bitteroleander.com
OUR TWELVE PREVIOUS WINNERS:
---2012---Patty Dickson Pieczka for Painting the Egret's Echo
---2013---Tom Holmes for The Cave
---2014---Katherine Sánchez Espano for The Sky's Dustbin
---2015---Christien Gholson for All the Beautiful Dead
---2016---Austin LaGrone for Call Me When You Get to Rosie's
---2017---Ray Keifetz for Night Farming in Bosnia
---2018---Serena Fusek for Ancient Maps and a Tarot Pack
---2019---Sean Thomas Dougherty for Not All Saints
---2020---Stephanie Dickinson for Blue Swan, Black Swan: The Trakl Diaries
---2021---Andrea Moorhead for Tracing the Distance
---2022---Laurie Blauner for Come Closer
---2023---Robert Moore (Red Hawk) for Book of Lamentations
---2024---Jeff Royce for Angel Trumpets
---2012---Patty Dickson Pieczka for Painting the Egret's Echo
---2013---Tom Holmes for The Cave
---2014---Katherine Sánchez Espano for The Sky's Dustbin
---2015---Christien Gholson for All the Beautiful Dead
---2016---Austin LaGrone for Call Me When You Get to Rosie's
---2017---Ray Keifetz for Night Farming in Bosnia
---2018---Serena Fusek for Ancient Maps and a Tarot Pack
---2019---Sean Thomas Dougherty for Not All Saints
---2020---Stephanie Dickinson for Blue Swan, Black Swan: The Trakl Diaries
---2021---Andrea Moorhead for Tracing the Distance
---2022---Laurie Blauner for Come Closer
---2023---Robert Moore (Red Hawk) for Book of Lamentations
---2024---Jeff Royce for Angel Trumpets
PLEASE SUBMIT ALL POSTAL MAIL ENTRIES TO: