Submit your full-length poetry collection in English (50–150 pages) for the Memoir in Verse Award, celebrating BIPOC and underrepresented poets whose thematic collections capture a personal journey or season of life. Individual poems may have been self-published or published by Kinsman Avenue Publishing, Inc.; however, all other previously published works are ineligible.
Selected poets will receive a $1,500 cash licensing award and publication with Kinsman Avenue Publishing, Inc.
Submission Deadline: March 31, 2026
Submission Fee: $22
(Free for active Priority Members only. No other fee waivers will be provided.)
Those Eligible
- individuals 18+ years old
- individuals of a BIPOC or underrepresented community (preferred)
- individuals able to receive cash licensing awards through PayPal, Wise, Venmo, Zelle, or Payoneer
Submission Package should include a single MS Word document or pdf, titled as such TITLE_AUTHOR-NAME. Include the following items in clearly labeled sections in order:
1. Query Letter
- Limit to 1 page, including your chapbook's theme, word count. and what makes your chapbook unique
2. Author Bio
- One paragraph in 150 words or less
- Include a professional headshot at the top of the page
3. Book Description
- Write a dust jacket copy description suitable for a book's back cover in 100-300 words
4. Table of Contents
- Create a table of contents or your individual poems and their page numbers
5. The Poetry Collection
- Submit the full manuscript as an MS Word or pdf document
- Include a title page with name and contact information
- Number pages of the manuscript (upper, right preferred)
- 12-point Times New Roman font
- SINGLE-spaced text with 1-inch margins
- Do not add images. Do not use other fonts or font sizes anywhere in the document.
Be sure that each individual poem is eligible for publication. Retracting individual poems from your original collection after submission will not be allowed. Entries that do not meet the required criteria may be dismissed without notice. YOU MAY SUBMIT ONE FILE WITH REQUIRED QUERY MATERIALS, USING THE PROPER UPLOAD FORM BELOW.
Authors and poets wanted for Voices of Mixed Heritage. Participants submit an original, unpublished work in English, including short stories, nonfiction essays, or poetry exploring themes of multicultural or third-culture identity, love, belonging, home life, and pain. Prizes up to $500 USD for top winners along with publication in Kinsman Quarterly's literary journal and the upcoming anthology, Living Between Worlds: Bicultural Life, Love, & Pain.
Submissions must be received by February 28, 2026. Selected finalists will be featured in the Kinsman Quarterly, its social media sites, printed promotions, and 2026 anthology. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, however submissions should be withdrawn if accepted elsewhere. To ensure that we are able to publish the unpublished work, winning contestants and finalists are asked to wait a full year after winning announcements before they republish the work themselves or with another organization. Copyrights of the individual submissions remain with the authors and artists, and copyrights for the anthology as a collection are reserved to Kinsman Avenue Publishing, Inc.
Those Eligible
- individuals 18 years or older
- authors and poets of mixed heritage (preferred, but not limited to)
- individuals able to receive cash prizes through Paypal, Payoneer, Wise, Venmo, or Zelle (transfer through other platforms not allowed). Runner-up finalists receive Amazon gift cards (non-transferable).
By submitting an original, unpublished work, contestants authorize work to be published in the Kinsman Quarterly, its annual anthology, within its promotional announcements, and social media outlets.
Contest Guidelines
- Each entry should be an original, unpublished work by the submitting author, which does not infringe upon the copyrights of another individual or entity. If a work is found to be plagiarized, the offending contestant will be liable for all costs related to the plagiarism, including legal liabilities and the return of any winnings.
- Employees, team members, and directors of Kinsman Quarterly and Kinsman Avenue Publishing are ineligible to enter Kinsman Quarterly contests.
- Submissions must be received by February 28, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. EST.
- Submissions should feature themes related to multicultural or third-culture identity, love, belonging, home life, and pain.
- PARTICIPANTS MAY NOT SUBMIT MORE THAN ONE ENTRY TO THIS CONTEST. ALL SUBSEQUENT ENTRIES WILL BE DECLINED (poetry collections with more than one poem must be submitted in one docx or pdf file).
- Changes to the competition entry cannot be made once a work is submitted. However, the work can be resubmitted as a revision.
Genre Guidelines:
- short stories (300-2000 words)
- creative nonfiction (300-2000 words)
- unpublished poems or poetry collections (up to 10 pages - individual poems cannot be withdrawn after submission )
Formatting Guidelines
- All text entries must be in Times New Roman, font size 12, double-spaced.
- Files should be submitted in .doc, .docx, or .pdf formats. (NOT a .txt file)
- Multipage submissions must include page numbers (not mandatory for title pages)
- Be sure to remove all track changes from edited text.
- FILE Names should include genre, title, and name of author. Sample: "Poetry_The Flight of Eagles_John-Doe"
- Entries that do not adhere to guidelines will not be considered.
Available Prizes
- Grand Prize = $500 cash prize and publication in the Living Between Worlds anthology
- 1st Runner Up = $250 cash prize and publication in the Kinsman Quarterly and annual anthology
- 2nd Runner Up = $150 cash prize and publication in the Kinsman Quarterly and annual anthology
- Top 6 Finalists receive a $25 Amazon gift card and publication in the Living Between Worlds anthology
- 6 Honorary Mentions to receive publication in the Living Between Worlds anthology