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.
In 2023, 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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Early Bird Deadline: December 31, 2022
FINAL DEADLINE: February 1, 2023
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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 2023 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:
Early Bird Deadline: Entries submitted or postmarked no later than 11:59 pm, December 31, 2022 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 2023 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
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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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.
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:
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
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 |
2022 Prompts:
January | February | March | April | May | June |
July | August | September | October | November | December |
2023 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 |
2022 Winners:
January | February | March | April | May | June |
July | August | September | October | November | December |
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:
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:
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.
The Confederation Poets Prize is awarded to an outstanding 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.
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.