science fiction and fantasy poetry association
Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association
Annual Contest

SFPA has run an annual poetry contest since 2006, with the rules and guidelines consistent since the 2013 edition.

The contest is intended to raise funds for SFPA (a small donation is required with each entry), as well as to draw more attention to speculative poetry and reward writers of good speculative poems.

Each year, members and non-members submit speculative poems in long, short, and dwarf poem divisions, which are then judged by a guest judge. The top three winners of each division receiving cash prizes and publication on the SFPA website.

Submit your entries using the following form: https://bit.ly/SFPAcontest2026

Current Judge and Chair

2026 Judge: Naomi Simone Borwein

Naomi Simone Borwein is a Canadian poet and academic. She holds a PhD in English from the University of Newcastle. Her poetry appears in The Future Fire, Utopia Science Fiction Magazine, Space & Time Magazine. HWA Poetry Showcase IX (featured poet), Superpresent Magazine, Lovecraftiana, Suburban Witchcraft Magazine, and elsewhere. She is an editor in various guises, including EIC of the annual speculative poetry anthology, Katabatic Circus, and co-EIC at Angry Gable Press. She curated the critical volume, Global Indigenous Horror (University Press of Mississippi 2025) a Bram Stoker Nominee in Long Non-Fiction, and co-edited the book, From Analysis to Visualization (Springer 2020). Naomi also co-edited the speculative fiction and poetry anthologies Extrasensory Overload: an anthology of speculative excesses and This Exquisite Topology. She was head poetry editor at Swamp (UON), and a reader for Thanatos Review and Space & Time Magazine. She is currently a poetry reader for Orion’s Belt. Naomi has several books, articles, and other publications forthcoming. You can find her on Bluesky @nsborwein.bsky.social | Instagram @nsborwein 

2026 Contest Chair: Michael Hessel-Mial

a person in a red coat and glasses crouches in front of greenery, holding a book

Michael Hessel-Mial (he/him) is a poet and scholar based in Minneapolis, where he teaches first-year writing at the University of Minnesota. He is founding co-editor (with Miguel Mitchell) of SpecPoVerse, a quarterly journal of speculative poetry. Michael's own poetry uses invented forms to depict a future whose social struggles resonate with today's fight against capitalism, racism, patriarchy, and ecocide. Such poetry is forthcoming or appears in Dreams and Nightmares, Utopia Science Fiction, The Deadlands, and elsewhere. His verse novelette, The Planetseed Knew of the Coming Revolution, is out on submission. Michael is Jewish, and a father. He wants for you to remember: poetry always comes from ordinary people's wondrous relationship with language, people, and the world.

Most Recent Winners

The winners for the 2025 contest have now been announced. Congratulations, all!

Contest Rules and Prizes

The SFPA speculative poetry contest is open to all poets, including non-SFPA-members.

Prizes will be awarded for best unpublished 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. Entries must be anonymized to ensure fair judging; friends/family/students of the judge may not enter.

The first, second, and third place winners of each category receive publication on the SFPA website and a cash prize: $150 First Prize, $75 Second Prize, and $25 Third Prize.

Submission Guidelines

  • The 2026 contest opened June 1. The deadline will be August 31. Submit your entries now!
  • Unpublished poems only. Per SFPA's Statement on AI, the submission of AI generated poetry is prohibited.
  • Author retains all rights, except that first through third place winners will be published on our website.
  • Enter as many poems as you like, but an entry fee of $3 per poem must be paid via PayPal at entry (credit card can be used without a PayPal account, and those unable to use PayPal may mail a check). Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but must be immediately withdrawn if accepted elsewhere.
  • Entries will be read anonymously. Please do not include any identifying information in the file (file name can be anything); enter your name only in the form. The form can take a submission with multiple poems in the same category (dwarf, short, or long). Use a separate documents to submit poems from different categories. .rtf preferred.
  • No PayPal, or problems with the form? E-mail contest@sfpoetry.org to ask for instructions with “SFPA contest help” in the subject line.

Confirmation of receipt of your submission should follow within 3 days.

Announcement of winners will be posted on the SFPA website.

Previous Years' Contests

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