2009 Judge:

         Marilyn Nelson

Previous Judges :

Richard Wilbur, C.D. Wright, Robert Creeley, Michael Harper, Stanley Moss, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, John Ashbery, Robert Pinsky, Martin Espada, D.H. Melhem, and Forrest Gander.

Submission Guidelines:

1. Deadline: Submissions must be postmarked no earlier than July 15, 2008 and no later than October 15, 2008.

2. A check for the entry fee of $10.00 must be enclosed with the submission (includes free chapbook of a previous winner). Multiple submissions by the same poet are considered a separate submission and each entry should be unique.

3. Manuscripts should be 15 to 25 pages. Please send two copies.

4. Eligibility is limited to residents of the New England states (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont) who have not had a poetry book published. Should you become published after submitting an entry to this contest, please contact us to withdraw your submission.

5. The Philbrick Award honors a spirit of fairness and integrity among poets. If you have been a student of the judge within the last five years or if you have a close personal or professional relationship with the judge, please wait until the next year to submit your work.

6. The author's name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript.

7. Please enclose with your submission two cover sheets with the following information:

Cover sheet #1 Title of manuscript Author's name and address Telephone number Email address

Cover sheet # 2 Title of manuscript

8. Please include a stamped, self-addressed envelope for announcement of the winner. If you wish to be notified of the receipt of your manuscript, also enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard. Manuscripts will not be returned.

9. The winner will be announced in February 2009.

10. The reading by the winner and judge will take place at the Athenaeum in May 2009.

Send manuscripts to:

Philbrick Poetry Award
Providence Athenaeum
251 Benefit Street
Providence, RI 02903