The 2016 contest opens June 1; online entry at http://bit.ly/SFPoetry2016
($2 entry fee per poem; please upload as .rtf—if more convenient for multiple poems, you can send your poems to 16contest@sfpoetry.com and the payment via PayPal to sfpatreasurer@gmail.com). Submission deadline August 31, 2016. Winners to be announced by October 1. F.J. Bergmann is the 2016 Contest Chair. Questions to 16contest@sfpoetry.com.

Contest Rules: The 2016 SFPA speculative poetry contest is open to all poets, including non-SFPA-members. Prizes will be awarded for best poem in 3 categories: Dwarf (poems 1–10 lines [prose poems 0–100 words]); Short (11–49 lines [prose poems 101–499 words]); Long (50 lines and more [prose 500 words and up]). Line count does not include title or stanza breaks. All sub-genres of speculative poetry allowed in any form. Blind-judged: author identification will be removed before poems are sent to judge.

Judge: Michael Kriesel, Wausau, WI. Winner of North American Review’s 2015 Hearst Prize and numerous other awards, and President of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, a poet and reviewer whose work has appeared in Alaska Quarterly, Antioch Review, Crab Creek Review, Nimrod, Rattle, Right Hand Pointing, Rosebud, and The Progressive. Books include Chasing Saturday Night: Poems about Rural Wisconsin (Marsh River Editions), Whale of Stars (haiku) (Sunnyoutside), Moths Mail the House (Sunnyoutside), and Feeding My Heart to the Wind: Selected Short Poems (Sunnyoutside). He has a B.S. in Literature from the University of the State of New York, and was a print and broadcast journalist in the U.S. Navy. He’s currently a janitor at an elementary school, and also works as a security guard.

Preliminary readers will read the submissions blind, and the finalists will be sent to the judge.

Submission guidelines:

• Online entry form: http://bit.ly/SFPoetry2016
• Deadline is August 31.
• Unpublished poems only, .rtf preferred. Either submit poems individually via form or send all in one file, separated by ***, to 16contest@sfpoetry.com and pay treasurer directly.
• Enter as many poems as you like, but an entry fee $2 per poem must be paid via PayPal at entry (credit card can be used without a PayPal account). Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but must be immediately withdrawn if accepted elsewhere.
• No PayPal or problems with form? Send poems via e-mail to 16contest@sfpoetry.com, "SFPA contest" in subject line, .rtf preferred, contact info on manuscript (will be removed before judging), and send a check payable to SFPA to SFPA Treasurer, PO Box 2472, Dublin CA 94568, USA.

Confirmation of receipt of your submission should follow within 3 days.
Announcement of winners will be posted on the SFPA website.

Prizes: In each category (Dwarf, Short, Long): $100 First Prize, $50 Second Prize, $25 Third Prize. Publication on Poetry Planet (StarShipSofa.com) podcast magazine and on the SFPA website for first through third places.