Submissions for the WCPA’ s 2026 Poetry Contest, The Frank O’Hara Prize, ARE OPEN.
Please read the Contest Guidelines below before submitting to the contest. Submissions will be accepted through Sunday, March 31st, 2026.
2026 CONTEST JUDGE: January Gill O’Neil
January Gill O’Neil is the author of Rewilding (2018), Misery Islands (2014), and Underlife (2009), all published by CavanKerry Press. Rewilding was a finalist for the 2019 Paterson Poetry Prize and was recognized by Mass Center for the Book as a notable poetry collection for 2018. From 2012 to 2018, she served as executive director of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival. A Cave Canem fellow, O’Neil’s poems and articles have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day series, American Poetry Review, New England Review, Ploughshares and Ecotone, among others. In 2018, O’Neil was awarded a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant, and was named the John and Renée Grisham Writer in Residence for 2019-2020 at the University of Mississippi, Oxford.
O’Neil is an associate professor of English at Salem State University, a board of trustees member with Montserrat College, and the chair of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs board of directors. O’Neil lives with her two children in Beverly, Massachusetts.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
To enter the WCPA’s annual poetry contest, you must be either…
- A resident of Worcester County, or
- A student or employee of institutions within Worcester County or
- A WCPA member in good standing
First Place winners of previous WCPA annual poetry contests are not eligible to enter.
CONTEST GUIDELINES:
- Email submissions will not be accepted. The only way to submit electronically is by visiting OUR SUBMITTABLE page.
- Poems must be the entrant’s original work in English and must not be previously published.
- Submit no more than THREE (3) poems in any form.
- Paper submissions must not be stapled or attached in any way.
- Poems must be formatted for 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper.
- Do not put your name on the individual poems.
- Include a cover sheet with your name, address, telephone number, email address, and the title of each poem.
- Paper submissions can be mailed to WCPA Poetry Contest, PO Box 804, Worcester, MA 01613.
- WCPA Members will be eligible for three sentences of feedback, on an opt-in basis.
- Submissions will not be returned.
- Winners will be listed on the WCPA website and announced via our Instagram and our Facebook page. We will no longer mail out a list of winners, so please don’t send us a stamped envelope.
ENTRY FEE:
- There is no entry fee to submit. We believe in access for everyone.
- If you are able, we do strongly encourage purchasing a membership or making a donation. Membership fees and donations fund our programs and pay our staff.
JUDGING & AWARDS:
- First Place: $125 – Second Place: $100 – Third Place:$75
- Winning poems will be published in The Worcester Review, after which all rights revert to the poet.
- Contest winners will be announced in June 2026.
- Winners’ Reading & Award Reception to be held in September 2026.
- The WCPA Annual Poetry Contest does not pre-select poems: the contest judge sees all entries.