The deadline is approaching for the eleventh annual Off the Grid Poetry Prize. Given for a poetry collection by a writer over the age of 60, the award includes $1,000 and publication by Off the Grid Press, an imprint of Grid Books. The prize aims to reward writers “ripened in craft and vision.”
Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of at least 50 pages with a $25 entry fee by August 31. Jimmy Santiago Baca will judge. The winner will be announced by the end of the year. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Poets Tam Lin Neville and Bert Stern founded Off the Grid Press in 2003 with the goal to “provide a forum for older poets who are sometimes overlooked by the current marketplace.” The press later rebranded as Grid Brooks while preserving Off the Grid Press as an imprint. While the Off the Grid Poetry Prize remains reserved for older writers, Grid Books is open to writers of all ages and champions “creative work that springs from the margins.” In addition to poetry, the press also seeks to publish scholarly editions and oral history projects.