Alice James Books will consider submissions of poetry manuscripts to the 2026 Alice James Award postmarked through October 17th, 2025. The Alice James Award welcomes submissions from emerging as well as established poets. Entrants must reside in the United States.

The winner of the 2026 award will receive $2000, book publication, promotion, and distribution via Consortium Book Sales and Distribution. In addition to the winning manuscript, one or more additional manuscripts may be chosen for publication as the Editor’s Choice.

Guidelines for Manuscript Submission:
 

• AI-generated and AI-assisted work is strictly prohibited. Those interested in submitting to the AJA may use AI to research and inspire revision to existing poems but submitted collections as a whole, and every element of the poems within, must have been originally imagined and created by the author alone; in cases where lines or phrases were inspired by or pay homage to other resources, proper attribution is required. All manuscripts proven to have benefited from AI assistance will be immediately disqualified.
• Screening for the Alice James Award is blind. No contact information may appear within your manuscript, including within the filename, if electronically submitted. Do not include any preambles, bios, author's notes, or acknowledgments within your submitted manuscript. Notes on the poems are permitted.
• Hard copy submissions: send one copy of your manuscript with two title pages (one that includes just the title of your manuscript, the second the title and your contact information [your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and an optional biographical note]). Use only binder clips. No staples, folders, or printer-bound copies. 
• Manuscripts may be submitted online or by regular mail. Mail hard copy entries to: Alice James Books, Alice James Award, Auburn Hall, 60 Pineland Drive, Suite 206, New Gloucester, ME 04260. Online submissions are open until 11:59 PM EST on the deadline. 
• Manuscripts must have a numbered table of contents, typed in no smaller than 12-point font, paginated, and 48 – 100 pages (single-spaced) in length. We accept double-sided manuscripts.
• Decorative illustrations, photographs, or images should not be included; hybrid poems are permitted. Images that identify the author must be redacted. 
• Individual poems from the manuscript may have been previously published in magazines, anthologies, or chapbooks of less than 25 pages, but the collection, as a whole, must be unpublished.
• Translations and self-published books are not eligible.
• No multi-authored collections, please.
• MANUSCRIPTS CANNOT BE RETURNED. Please do not send us your only copy.
• Entry fee for the Alice James Award is $30 for online and hardcopy submissions. Checks or money orders for hardcopy submissions should be made payable to Alice James Books.
• Winners will be announced in February/March 2026.

Checklist for entry:
 

• Electronic: One (1) PDF or .docx copy of manuscript (NO CONTACT INFORMATION WITHIN MANUSCRIPT).
• Hardcopy: Two (2) copies of title page (one page that shows only the title, the second which shows the title and your contact information) and One (1) printed copy of manuscript enclosed (NO CONTACT INFORMATION WITHIN MANUSCRIPT). If you wish acknowledgment of the receipt of your manuscript, include a stamped addressed postcard. For notification of winners, include a business-sized SASE.
• $30 entry fee