About the Dwarf Stars Award

This award is given by the Science Fiction Poetry Association to recognize the best speculative poem of 1–10 lines published in the previous year. 

Although hundreds of excellent very short science fiction, fantasy, and horror poems are regularly published each year, they seem to be mostly overlooked in the Rhysling Award process. In the history of the Rhysling Award, few poems of 10 lines or fewer (stanza breaks excluded from line count) have been nominated, and none has won. Yet, there seems to be a surge of interest in short forms. It is not uncommon to find excellent scifaiku, tanka, cinquains, and other speculative short poems in poetry journals. The Dwarf Stars Award acknowledges excellence in this specialized field.

Unlike the annual Rhysling Anthology, Dwarf Stars is an edited anthology. All poets are encouraged to submit short-short poems published in the previous year for consideration. Poets, poetry readers, and editors are also encouraged to send suggestions of eligible poems to the current Dwarf Stars editor(s). Deborah P Kolodji was named the first Dwarf Stars editor by former SFPA president Mike Allen.

The annual Dwarf Stars anthology is published as a chapbook. SFPA members vote on their favorite short-short poem from the anthology, and the winner is given the Dwarf Stars Award. A copy of the Dwarf Stars anthology is included with SFPA membership.

Current Editor

Most Recent Anthology

Previous Anthologies and Award Winners

To see previous winners, tables of contents, and biographies, or to order copies of a Dwarf Stars anthology, please visit the Dwarf Stars Archive page.

Submissions to Dwarf Stars

The official submission period for Dwarf Stars is between April 1 and May 1 of each year.

You may submit individual poems for consideration throughout the year using the following link: https://bit.ly/dwarfstars

If the submission period is open, or if you are submitting a large number of poems, please follow the directions below.

Nomination Guidelines

On April 1 submissions open for the Dwarf Stars anthology, from which the best short poem published in the previous year is selected. Anyone may submit their own poems or those of others; there is no limit to how many poems you may submit for the anthology, but poems are selected for inclusion by the editors. Only SFPA members may vote for the award. Open to all genres of speculative poetry, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, and “unclassifiable, but speculative.” 

Poems must be no more than ten lines (or no more than 100 words for prose poems) not including title or stanza breaks, and first published in the preceding year; include publication credit. Sections of longer published poems are ineligible for awards.

Send email submissions (preferred) to dwarfstars@sfpoetry.com; please put “DS SUB” in the subject line of your email and put poems in the body of the email, with the following information:

1. Properly formatted poem
2. Poet’s name
3. Date of publication (must be first published in the previous calendar year)
4. Publication info:
   1. Online: venue name and URL (include page # for formats such as pdf, issuu, or joomla)
   2. Print: issue or book title and publisher URL or editorial address

Send postal submissions (discouraged) to the SFPA Secretary at the PO Box listed on the officers page. Editors of speculative poetry journals are welcome to submit entire issues; no need to name specific poems. 

Voting for the Winners

The Dwarf Stars anthology will mail with the July issue of Star*Line. 

Voting deadline is August 31. Only current SFPA members may vote.

A link to an online voting form will be added to this page when voting is active.

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