Contests
Every year, Arc awards prizes for the winners of several contests. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook to see the latest news about contest deadlines, winners, etc.
Arc Poetry Magazine Contests
- Poem of the Year Contest
- Arc Award of Awesomeness
- Archibald Lampman Award
- Diana Brebner Prize
- Confederation Poets Prize
- Critics’ Desk Award
Poem of the Year
In 2022, Arc will be awarding one $5,000 grand prize to the Poem of the Year and a $500 prize for an Honourable Mention. We accept still hard copy, mailed submissions!
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DEADLINE: February 1, 2022
EARLY BIRD DEADLINE: December 31, 2021
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Contest Guidelines:
The entry fee is $35 CDN, and includes a one-year Canadian subscription of Arc**.
Contest entry fees may be paid online or by cheque or money order mailed with your hard copy contest submissions.
If the submission fee is prohibitive to your entry in this contest, we are offering a select number of free entries. These free entries are meant to open the contest up to those who need financial assistance, but we will not be giving free entries a one-year subscription to the magazine. For more information please send queries to poty@arcpoetry.ca.
**or two issues to US entrants, or one issue to overseas entrants. Early bird submissions may consist of three poems. Entrants who are currently subscribers may pass along their contest subscription or complimentary issues to a friend; please email poty@arcpoetry.ca and include the name and address to which the contest subscription is destined.
Shortlist: A shortlist of 10 to 12 poems, selected by Arc’s editorial board, will be eligible for the Readers’ Choice Award. The winner receives $250. Visit us in Spring 2022 to read our shortlist selections and cast your vote! Shortlisted poets will be contacted prior to the shortlist going live.
Publication: Shortlisted entries for the Poem of the Year will be published online and in a print issue of Arc, and will receive page-rate payment for online and print publication. Arc secures First Canadian Serial Rights, meaning the poems should not appear in any print or digital publication before the release of the issue in which the work appears. All rights will revert to the author upon publication.
Rules:
- Ac welcomes Poem of the Year entries from Canada, the United States, and around the world. Entrants outside Canada must submit entry fees in Canadian funds. Please use the online payment option or mail a cheque or money order in Canadian funds.
- Entrants may submit up to two unpublished poems with each $35 fee (extra poems: $5 per poem), except for Early Bird submissions, which may be up to three poems.
- The length of each poem must not exceed 100 lines.
- Entrant’s name, address, e-mail and phone number must not appear on the poems, but instead on a separate sheet or in the body of the submission email, which should also list the titles of all poems entered.
- Entrants’ information is concealed during deliberations.
- No entrants (including winners, honourable mentions, or authors of shortlisted poems) may substitute, before, during, or after judging, a revision of any poem already submitted to the contest.
- No poems will be returned.
Early Bird Deadline: Entries submitted or postmarked no later than 11:59 pm, December 31, 2021 may consist of 3 poems for a single entry fee. For entries submitted or postmarked after this date, only the first two poems will be considered.
Privacy Notice: Unless you indicate otherwise, Arc may share addresses of entrants to the 2022 Poem of the Year Contest with similar literary magazines or related organizations for promotional purposes.
Eligibility: Poems published elsewhere (including excerpts and revised versions) are not eligible for consideration. Should the Arc editorial board discover grounds for disqualification at any point during the judging process (including shortlisting and final judging), the poem will immediately be considered ineligible for the contest. The entry fee will not be refunded, and the poet will receive the subscription to Arc.
(adapted from the Malahat Review).
Submit Entries: Please enter online with Submittable
or mail your entry to:
Poem of the Year Contest
Arc Poetry Magazine
PO Box 81060
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada, K1P 1B1
Poem of the Year Contest Entry Fees
Each entry also entitles the entrant to a 1 year (3 issue) Canadian subscription to Arc. If the entrant is in the USA, they will get 2 issues of Arc; if they are outside of the USA and Canada, they will receive 1 issue of Arc.
| Number of Poems | Entry Fee |
| 1 or 2 poems (+1 year of Arc*) |
$35.00 CAD |
| 3 poems (+1 year of Arc*) |
$40.00 CAD |
| 4 poems (+1 year of Arc*) |
$45.00 CAD |
| 5 poems (+1 year of Arc*) |
$50.00 CAD |
| 6 poems (+1 year of Arc*) |
$55.00 CAD |
| 7 poems (+1 year of Arc*) |
$60.00 CAD |
| 8 poems (+1 year of Arc*) |
$65.00 CAD |
| 9 poems (+1 year of Arc*) |
$70.00 CAD |
| 10 poems (+1 year of Arc*) |
$75.00 CAD |
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Poem of the Year Readers’ Choice
Shortlisted entries for the Poem of the Year will be published online and in a print issue of Arc. The Readers’ Choice poem is chosen by Arc’s readers through online voting. The winner receives $250.
Arc Award of Awesomeness
In April 2020, Arc began a monthly prize – a 50/50 cash prize, a vintage object d’art (loosely interpreted) and the all the honour and respect that comes with winning the Arc Award of Awesomeness.
DEADLINE: The last day of the month
Contest Guidelines:
The entry fee is $2 CDN. We recommend taping a toonie to your poem and mailing it to our offices.
Rules:
- Poems must be a response to the monthly Arc Award of Awesomeness writing challenge.
- Entrants may only submit one unpublished poem with each $2 fee. If you want to submit multiple poems you may pay online with a minimum of 5 entries ($10)
- Entrants need to include their name, address, and email address with their poems (so we can send you your awesome prize).
- No entrants (including winners, honourable mentions, or authors of shortlisted poems) may substitute, before, during, or after judging, a revision of any poem already submitted to the contest.
- No poems will be returned.
- Arc welcomes Award of Awesomeness entries from Canada, the United States, and around the world. Participants from the US are welcome to include $2 USD in cash in their envelopes. All other Entrants outside Canada must submit entry fees in Canadian funds.
Publication: The winning entry will be published on the Arc website. We would ask the winners to provide us a photo of themselves and their prize.
Submit Entries:
Please mail your entry to:
Arc Award of Awesomeness
Arc Poetry Magazine
PO Box 81060
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada, K1P 1B1
Or, if submitting multiple entries and paying online:
Please email entries to poty@arcpoetry.ca
Arc Award of Awesomeness entry fee:
The entry fee for this contest does not include a subscription to Arc. For submissions of less than 5 poems, please pay in cash or by cheque.
| Number of Poems | Total Entry Fee |
| 5 poems | $10 CAD |
| 6 poems | $12 CAD |
| 7 poems | $14 CAD |
| 8 poems | $16 CAD |
| 9 poems | $18 CAD |
| 10 poems | $20 CAD |
Past Winners:
2020 Prompts:
| April | May | June | |||
| July | August | September | October | November | December |
2021 Prompts:
| January | February | March | April | May | June |
| July | August | September | October | November | December |
2020 Winners:
| April | May | June | |||
| July | August | September | October | November | December |
2021 Winners:
| January | February | March | April | May | June |
| July | August | September | October | November | December |
Archibald Lampman Award
The Archibald Lampman Award recognizes an outstanding book of English-language poetry by an author living in the National Capital Region.
Archibald Lampman was one of Canada’s finest 19th-century poets. Born in 1861, he graduated from Trinity College (Toronto) in 1882, then moved to Ottawa where he worked for the Post Office until his death in 1899. He is known for his ability to immerse metaphysics in the details of nature, which he observed while hiking round what was then the wilderness capital of a new country. His books include Among the Millet (1888), Lyrics of Earth (1895) and the posthumous Alcyone (1900).
For the years 2007 through 2009, the Archibald Lampman Award merged with the Duncan Campbell Scott Foundation to become the Lampman-Scott Award. This partnership came to an end in 2010, and the prize returned to its former identity as the Archibald Lampman Award for Poetry.
Archibald Lampman Award Guidelines:
- Eligible entries are English-language books of poetry published by a recognized publisher.
- Eligible books must be no less than 48 pages in length.
- The contest is open to authors who have had their principal home and actual residence in the National Capital Region for at least 6 months immediately prior to the date of publication of the submitted book. Proof of residency may be required.
- Please send 4 copies of the book to Arc‘s mailing address before the contest deadline.
- Deadline for collections published in 2020: March 31, 2021
- Prize: $1,500
Diana Brebner Prize
The Diana Brebner Prize is awarded yearly for the best poem written by a National Capital Region poet, who has not yet been published in book form. The prize honours the late Diana Brebner, an award-winning Ottawa-based poet who was devoted to fostering literary talent among new, local writers.
Diana Brebner Prize Guidelines:
- The contest is open to authors who have had their principal home and actual residence in the National Capital Region for at least 6 months immediately prior to the date of submission, and who have not yet published their poetry in book form. Proof of residency may be required.
- Entry fee is $25.00 for one or two poems, and includes a one-year subscription to Arc.
- Eligible entries must not exceed 30 lines each (including spaces).
- No simultaneous submissions or previously published poems will be accepted.
- Entrant’s name, address, e-mail and phone number must not appear on the poems, but instead on a separate sheet or in the body of the submission email, which should also list the titles of all poems entered.
- Emailed entries should have “Diana Brebner Prize” in the subject line, and can be sent to: brebner@arcpoetry.ca.
- Mailed entries should be sent to: Diana Brebner Prize, Arc Poetry Magazine, PO Box 81060, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1P 1B1
- Mailed entries will not be returned.
- Entrants’ information is concealed during deliberations.
- Prize: $500
- Deadline:
September 3, 2021September 10, 2021
Diana Brebner Prize entry fee:
| Number of Poems | Entry Fee |
| 1 or 2 poems (+1 year of Arc*) |
$25.00 CAD |
*Each entry also entitles the entrant to a 1 year (3 issue) Canadian subscription to Arc. If the entrant is in the USA, they will get 2 issues of Arc; if they are outside of the USA and Canada, they will receive 1 issue of Arc.
Confederation Poets Prize
The Confederation Poets Prize is awarded given for the best poem published in Arc in the preceding year. Selected by a prominent member of Canada’s literary communities, the award includes a $250 prize.
Arc Poetry Magazine’s Confederation Poets Prize is named in recognition of a group of Canadian poets who were born around the time of Canadian Confederation. The term was first applied and usually refers to Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, Archibald Lampman and Duncan Campbell Scott. Lampman and Scott, as well their contemporary William Wilfred Campbell, lived and wrote in Ottawa, where, in the formative years of a new country, they helped lay the foundation for a tradition of poetry.
A century later, Arc honours them and acknowledges the wealth of new Canadian poetry.
As all poems published in Arc are included, entries are not required.
Critics’ Desk Award
Book reviewing is an art that involves the engagement of the critic’s sensibility with the text. With the Critic’s Desk Award, Arc marks the importance that the thoughtful treatment of poetry holds in the evolution and wider appreciation of the genre.
Inaugurated in Arc‘s 25th-anniversary year, the Critic’s Desk Award honours excellence in book reviewing. The Award is given annually to a feature review and to a brief review to have been published in Arc in the previous calendar year. The winners are chosen by a distinguished critic known for his or her contribution as a reviewer of poetry.
The prizes are $250 for the feature review and $100 for the brief review.
As all feature and brief reviews published in Arc or on the Arc website in a given calendar year are automatically included, entries are not required. Winners are announced in the first issue of the following year.
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