Submissions accepted through October 31, 2026
A prize of $1,000 is awarded, plus publication of the manuscript and 50 books. A prize of $500 is awarded for the Editor’s Choice, along with publication of the manuscript and 50 free books.
Submit 70 to 90 pages of poetry and/or flash fiction, including a Table of Contents and Acknowledgments page. Reading fee is $25.
- This year’s contest judge is Leslie Ullman.
- The first 50 writers submitting to the contest receive a Cloudbank book or journal.
- To submit electronically through our submissions manager click here.
- Individual poems or flash fictions (up to 1000 words each) may have been previously published.
- Submissions should include two title pages, one with title only, one with title and author name.
- Cloudbank editors appreciate a wide range of styles, approaches, forms, and aesthetics; we welcome prose poems and flash fiction.
- Submissions are accepted from around the world with no citizenship limitations.
Leslie Ullman has published seven full-length collections, most recently Unruly Tree from University of New Mexico Press, and a chapbook titled Self Portrait as Vanishing Act from Lily Review Press. She lives in Arroyo Seco, New Mexico.
Cloudbank’s Rutsala Book Prize is named after Vern Rutsala, an Oregon poet who taught at Lewis & Clark University for over 40 years. He was the author of over a dozen books of poetry, including How We Spent Our Time (2006), A Handbook for Writers: New & Selected Prose Poems (2004), and The Moment’s Equation (2003), a finalist for the National Book Award.