I n v e r t e d   
​S y n t a x

Please forgive us, 
we need a moment 
to regain our composure. 
Sublingua Prize
​is on hiatus in 2021

Sublingua Prize for Poetry
Returns in 2022
Closes July 1st, 2020 

Khadijah Queen will judge Inverted Syntax’s 
​2nd Annual Sublingua Prize for Poetry 
Submissions will be open March 7 through July 1.

The Inverted Syntax Sublingua Prize for Poetry awards a cash prize of $1,000 and publication in our print issue for an exceptionally crafted, previously unpublished piece(s) by a writer who has not yet published a full-length manuscript nor a chapbook exceeding 44 pages. The award-winning poet ​Khadijah Queen​ will judge. All submission entries are also considered for publication.
Picture
Photo credit: Michael Teak 2018
About the Judge
​
Khadijah Queen, PhD, is the author of five books, most recently I'm So Fine: A List of Famous Men & What I Had On (YesYes Books 2017). Earlier poetry collections include Conduit (Akashic / Black Goat 2008), Black Peculiar (Noemi Press 2011) and Fearful Beloved (Argos Books 2015). Her verse play Non-Sequitur (Litmus Press 2015) won the Leslie Scalapino Award for Innovative Women's Performance Writing. The prize included a full staged production of the play at Theaterlab NYC from December 10 - 20, 2015 by Fiona Templeton's The Relationship theater company. Individual poems and prose appear in Poetry, Fence, Tin House, American Poetry Review, Buzzfeed, Gulf Coast, Poor Claudia, The Offing, jubilat, Memoir, Tupelo Quarterly, DIAGRAM, The Volta Book of Poets, LitHub, New Delta Review, The Force of What's Possible and widely elsewhere. Reviews of her work can be found in O Magazine, The New Yorker, Rain Taxi, BOMB Magazine, SCOUT, Publishers Weekly, Los Angeles Review, Open Letters Monthly, The Volta, Kenyon Review, and other publications. Her 2019 op-ed on poetry and disability, co-edited with Jillian Weise, appeared in The New York Times. She is an Assistant Professor of creative writing at University of Colorado, Boulder, and serves as core faculty for the Mile-High MFA in creative writing at Regis University. Her sixth book, ANODYNE, is forthcoming from Tin House in August 2020.
The Sublingua Prize for Poetry Guidelines:

  • The Inverted Syntax Sublingua Prize for Poetry awards a cash prize of $1,000 and publication in our print issue for exceptionally crafted, previously unpublished work by a writer who has not yet published a full-length manuscript nor a chapbook exceeding 44 pages. The award-winning, remarkable poet ​Khadijah Queen​ will judge. All submission entries are also considered for publication.
 
  • Though it’s called the Inverted Syntax Sublingua Prize for Poetry, we accept work that celebrates hybridity, resisting genre-specificity. Whatever poetry means to you, send it our way.
  • We will accept submissions between March 7 and July 1, 2020. The winner will be announced in October.
  • Please send no more than five poems, not exceeding six pages.
  • The submission entry fee is $15. Select the $25 to receive a copy of the November 2020 Issue.
  • Any writer whose work is published from the Sublingua Prize submissions will receive a complimentary copy of Issue 3 | November 2020
  • We read submissions blind. Submissions with identifying information will not be considered.
  • We accept submissions only though Submittable.
  • Upload up to 5 pieces (not to exceed 6 pages) into a single file. Be sure to use page numbers and 12-point font (preferably Garamond because this is the font we publish in), in .doc, .docx, and pdf.
  • The print journal is 8.5 x 8.5. We attempt to preserve your original formatting by all means possible, but there are some limitations when working within 7.5x7.5 margins. Please keep this in mind when formatting your work for us.
  • We accept simultaneous submissions. Notify us immediately if your work is picked up elsewhere.
  • We accept multiple submissions, but each submission must be accompanied by its own fee.
  • Anyone affiliated with Regis University or Inverted Syntax is not eligible to submit to the contest. Anyone affiliated with the judge is also not eligible.
  • The Sublingua Prize is only open to those residing in USA because of the complexities related to international financial transactions. 
  • All Sublingua poetry contest submissions will be read by the editorial staff. Editors and judge will not have access to the identities of the submitters.
  • The editors of Inverted Syntax will meet as a group to select thirty semi-finalists to be sent to Khadijah Queen, who will select the ten finalists including the winning poem which will be awarded a $1000 prize.
  • Inclusivity Statement All volunteers, readers, subscribers, submitters, and any participants, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation or identity, education or disability are valued and respected. Inverted Syntax editors are committed to creating an inclusive, supportive, and welcoming environment where our community of contributors and supporters feel valued. 
  • Inverted Syntax encourages diverse and inclusive voices, especially those from under-represented and vulnerable communities, to consider submitting work to Inverted Syntax. 

If the submission fee presents an issue for you, please submit to this Submittable link sponsored by an anonymous benefactor. This submission link is open until ten submissions are reached. The contest has ended and the link has closed.

submit