THE COMSTOCK REVIEW

2025 Muriel Craft Bailey Poetry Contest

           Final Judge: Carolyne Wright

  First Prize: $1,000 (The Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial Award)
  

 Second Prize: $250    Third Prize: $100  

 Honorable Mentions receive a one-year subscription.

Guidelines - updated annually 

1) Submit up to 5 poems as Word documents (as 1 whole document or 1 poem per document). Editors’ eyes prefer classic fonts and size (12 pt font). You may submit more than one group of poems, but you will have to pay the submission fee for each submission.

2) Poem length must be 12-60 lines after the title including all stanza breaks. Maximum line length is 70 characters, counting all letters, numbers, punctuation and spaces. Tabs count as equivalent number of spaces. 

3) Absolutely Do Not include your name or other identifying information in the submission title, file name or on poems, so screening editors and the final judge can be impartial or the submission will be disqualified. Names, addresses, acknowledgments and bio (maximum 50 words) go in the cover letter section of the input form only. (If sent by mail, put names on BACK of poems). 

4) Poems must be the submitter’s original work, and unpublished in ANY medium, print or electronic. No AI-generated poems. Editors may disqualify all poems submitted by a poet if any authorship violation is found. 

5) Special Merit (finalist) poems are sent to the Judge and accepted for publication in the Winter issue following the contest. The Judge chooses the First, Second and Third prizes. The editors may choose Honorable Mentions. Finalists are generally announced in October.

6) Tell us in your cover letter if your entry contains simultaneous submissions. Notify us immediately if you want to withdraw a poem for any reason before finalists are selected. 

All Prize winners, Honorable Mention and Special Merit poems are accepted work, to be published in the Winter issue of that year's volume. In 2025 they will appear in Vol. 29 Issue 2, Winter 2025, scheduled for release in February or March of 2026. The Comstock Review reserves the right of first refusal for all accepted (finalist) poems. 

7) Poems may be submitted online through Submittable or by U. S. mail (see additional directions for mail submissions on our website, comstockreview.org). 

SUBMIT ONLINE: with entry fee. The entry fee per submission in 2025 is $27.50. ($25.00 contest fee plus $2.50 to cover Submittable fees). This includes up to 5 poems.

SUBMIT by MAIL: The Comstock Review, 4956 St. John Drive, Syracuse, NY 13215 with check or money order for $5 per poem, each poem on a separate sheet of paper with author's name on the back, a separate cover letter with contact information, and a SASE or email address for results.
 

Subscribe and support The Comstock Review.  You will receive two issues in the current volume (year).  Enjoy a year of intriguing poetry while supporting the printed word! 

Subscriptions are critical to our mission of continuing to support poets and poetry readers. In fact 

We have no broad institutional support and don't sell any advertising in our journal.  We cover the costs of publishing The Comstock Review through contest fees, sales of the journal and winning chapbooks, small donations 

- and subscriptions from supporters like you.

Poets and readers supporting poets together.  What could be better?

Of course, the cost of printing, binding and shipping the issue rises every year, and it has finally caught up with us. We had to increase the cost of each issue from $12.50 to $15.00 on April 1, 2025. 

A one-year subscription is now $30, and a two-year subscription is now $60. 

Thank you, on behalf of our contributing poets, volunteer editors and the poetry community for your support!. 

 Winner of the most recent Comstock Writers' Group Chapbook Contest
  Please enter your name and current mailing address below.
  If you need to order several copies, do it by mail.  You will save on internet costs!

 

Please enter your name and current mailing address below. Winner of the most recent Comstock Writers' Group Chapbook Contest
 Own your own copy of ted Kooser's latest chapbook, AT HOME,  while supporting the Comstock Review as well.  $12 plus online fees.
 If you need to order several copies, do it by mail.  You will save on internet costs!

Help us fulfill our mission to support the poetry community by encouraging poets to publish their work and increasing readership by providing a home in our publications for good poetry.

Winner of the 2016 Comstock Writers' Group Chapbook Contest


Own your own copy of Ted Kooser's latest chapbook, AT HOME,  while supporting the Comstock Review as well.  $14 plus online fees.


If you need to order several copies, do it by mail.  You will save on internet costs!