SFPA has issued its annual call for nominations for the 2012 Rhysling Award. Here are the rules and procedures for the 2012 Rhysling nominations. If you have questions, please e-mail Lyn C. A. Gardner at rhysling@sfpoetry.com.

Please read these guidelines carefully. Due to the increase in the number of nominations being made, it is important that nominations follow all stated guidelines and that they contain all of the required information. Nominations received that do not meet all of the stated criteria will not be accepted.

1. You must be a member of SFPA to nominate; however, the poem's author need not be an SFPA member.
2. Only poems first published in the year 2011 are eligible.
3. You may not nominate yourself.
4. You may nominate one short poem (1-49 lines) and one long poem (50+ lines); you are not required to make a nomination in both categories. For the purposes of nomination, prose poems from 1-499 words are deemed to be short poems, while those of 500 words and above are long. Please note: spaces, stanza breaks, titles, true (not fictitious) epigraphs, and the poet's name are not included in the line count.
5. At least two past winners of the Rhysling Award were self-published; therefore, no restriction is made upon self-published work, so long as the poem first appeared in 2011. Full publication details must be provided as described below.
6. Nominations may be submitted either by regular mail or by e-mail, and must conform to the following guidelines:
   
   E-Mail:
   1. You must include the title of the poem; the poet's full name; a copy of the complete text of the poem (that retains the formatting of the poem as published); the editorial address of the publication in which the poem first appeared; and link(s) to information such as a homepage, title page, or online bibliography that provides proof of when the poem was first published.
   2. If possible, please also include the poet's e-mail and postal address.
   3. Poems must be included in the body of the e-mail or sent as .rtf attachments; no other method will be accepted. If a poem contains unique formatting, please send it in .rtf format (or via postal mail if necessary).
   4. Note: The Rhysling Chair reserves the right to request that an e-mail nomination be resubmitted via regular mail.
   5. Send to: rhysling@sfpoetry.com. Subject line must read “Rhysling nomination.”
   6. Must be received between 12:01 a.m. (EST) January 1 and 11:59 p.m. (EST) February 15, 2012.
   7. For nominations submitted via e-mail, a confirmation of receipt will be sent within seven days. If you do not receive this confirmation, please resend your nomination.
      
      
   Postal Mail:
   1. You must include the title of the poem; the poet's full name; a copy of the complete text of the poem; the editorial address of the publication in which the poem first appeared; and the title page and/or contents page of the publication (or similar information indicating when the poem was first published).
   2. If possible, please also include the poet's address and/or e-mail.
   3. Mail to: Lyn C. A. Gardner, 11 Colonial Place, Newport News, VA 23601, U.S.A. Do not use delivery confirmation.
   4. Must be received no earlier than January 1 and no later than February 15, 2012. Please note: this is not a postmark deadline.
   5. Please note that whenever possible, e-mail submissions are strongly preferred. Even if you submit a nomination via postal mail, it is deeply appreciated if you would provide an e-mail address for further communication.
   6. For nominations submitted via postal mail, please allow ten to fourteen days for e-mail confirmation. If you cannot receive an e-mail confirmation, please include an SASE if you would like a confirmation notice. If neither of these is done, no confirmation will be sent.
      
      

To learn more about the Rhysling Awards and the Rhysling Anthology, please go to the main Rhysling Award page. To view the contents of all the Rhysling Anthologies since 1978, visit the Rhysling archive. 

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