Nine Syllables Press is delighted to announce our first annual Tammis Day Prize. Diane Seuss will be the final judge for 2026. The winner will be awarded $1000, author’s copies, a reading at Smith College, and a two week artist's residency at Vermont Studio Center. The book will be published within a year. Winners will be announced by February, 2027.

Submissions are open March 1-August 31, 2026. There is a $30 submission fee. Please read the guidelines below carefully before sending us your work. 

If the fee is prohibitive for you to submit, please email 9syllablespress (a) smith.edu and ask for a fee waiver.

Who can submit?

Women poets and trans and nonbinary poets of all genders 40 years of age or older who have not yet published a full-length collection (48 pages or more) can submit their manuscript to the Tammis Day Prize. Poets who have published chapbooks (under 40 pages) or had work in anthologies are eligible to submit. Poets who have self-published a full-length collection and poets who have published books in other genres (fiction, non-fiction) are eligible to submit.

We especially encourage trans/LGBTQIA+ poets and BIPOC poets to submit their work. Individual poems from the collection may have been published elsewhere. Poets outside the US are also welcome to submit.

9SP complies with the CLMP Code of Ethics in the administration of this contest. The judge will select a manuscript in an anonymous review process and will not award the prize to any writer whose personal relationship to the judge poses a conflict of interest. Current students and faculty at Smith College are not eligible to submit, and those with a personal relationship with the final judge are not eligible to submit. 

Simultaneous submissions are allowed, please withdraw your work if it is accepted elsewhere.  

What to submit?

Send us an original, unpublished poetry collection of 48-64 pages. Please note, we are not able to consider collections which include images such as photographs, collage, or other visual media.

How to format it?

Do NOT include your name, acknowledgements, or any identifying details (address, social media handles, etc) anywhere in your manuscript. If your name appears in a poem, such as a ghazal, please redact it with a [     ].

Please use a standard serif typeface such as Times New Roman or Garamond, size 12. 

Include a table of contents at the beginning. This does not count towards your page count.

Please include page numbers on all pages.

Please note, we are not able to consider collections which include images such as photographs, collage, or other visual media.  

AI generated work policy:

We do NOT accept manuscripts which have been generated using AI (ChatGPT or similar software). Do not submit AI-generated work, it will be disqualified.

What if my manuscript is 39 pages long? Or 82?

48-64 pages is a guideline, for the standard length of a full-length poetry manuscript--a few pages more or less will not disqualify you.

Who reads the manuscripts?

Alums of Smith College who are published poets and the Editor of Nine Syllables Press, Adrie Rose, participate in reading submissions anonymously. Their final selections are passed on to the final judge, who chooses the winner.