SweetLit

Category: Contest

Poetry Contest 2021 Winners

June 13, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Sweet is pleased to announce the winning poem of the 2021 Poetry Contest, along with two runners up and eight finalist poems.

Judge Laura Donnelly selected the poem “Before school there are icicles” by Meghan Sterling from a field of eleven finalist poems chosen by Sweet Lit poetry editors. Donnelly also singled out “Prey Drive” by Anna Chotlos and “Just the Daily Turn” by Cathlin Noonan as runners up. You may read the judge’s comments on these three poems in the special poetry contest issue of Sweet Lit, which will go up some time this summer. All finalists will be offered publication in the special poetry contest issue of Sweet Lit.

FINALISTS:

“With Any Luck” by Angela Just

“If The Wound Is How the Light Enters You, How Do You Heal?” by Anna Chotlos

“Post-Menopausal Love Poem That Begins with Guilt and Ends with Air Plants” by Jen Karetnick

“The Customs of Grief” by Karen Craigo

“I Wanted My Mother to Say to Me as She Lay Dying” by Natalie Marino

“Bound to Repeat It” by Connie Post

“That’s Right It Starts with an Earthquake” by Michele Parker Randall

“A Walk After Being Let Go” by Meghan Sterling

Flash Contest Results 2020

February 25, 2021 / / 2 Comments

We’re thrilled to announce “The Suicide Hotline Voice Says My Feelings are Normal” by Lisa K. Buchanan is the winner of our Flash Essay Contest judged by Brenda Miller. Thank you to all of the wonderful writers who entered our contest!

On “The Suicide Hotline Voice Says My Feelings are Normal,” Brenda Miller said:

“‘The Suicide Hotline Voice Says My Feelings are Normal’ is a remarkable essay. Shocking, is the word I might use: shocking in the incident it describes, shocking in its vivid imagery, shocking in the way we travel through time in this compressed space. We inhabit this essay with the author, floating with her as we try to fully comprehend what we’ve seen, and wonder how we’ll keep living now.”

RUNNERS UP:
Anneli Matheson, “A Wander Down Dried Seafood Street”
Brent House, “In View”

FINALISTS:
Laurie Uttich, “It’s Friday Afternoon in a Florida Penitentiary”
Jane Satterfield, “Scirroco”

The winner and runners up will be published in Sweet Volume 13 Issue 3.

Poetry Contest

February 1, 2021 / / 0 Comments
Poetry Contest Ad

Our annual poetry contest is now in February! Nothing says “love” more than poetry, so we think this is the perfect month. Send us your poems about love, falling in love, saying goodbye to love, or nothing about love at all! Submission fee is $10 and you can submit up to 5 poems for each entry. But don’t delay, there are only 28 days in this month to get your best poems to us. The winner will receive $500 and all finalists will be published in a special contest edition of Sweet Lit.

For more information, visit our Submittable page.

We encourage and welcome submissions from diverse voices and under-represented
populations, including, but not limited to, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+
community, those with disabilities, and the elderly.

CLMP’s community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical
contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing
exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and
transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we
agree to:

1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical
behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors;

2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines—defining conflict of interest for
all parties involved; and

3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This
Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that
each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our
integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests
contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.

2020 Flash Nonfiction Contest

November 13, 2020 / / 2 Comments
Autumn background with text Enter Now Flash Nonfiction Essay Contest

Sweet is thrilled to announce its fourth annual Flash Essay Contest. Broadly speaking, we appreciate a close attention to language and a quirky sense of humor, and you can always read published essays in previous Sweet issues on our website. We look forward to reading your work!

Submissions Open: November 1st, 2020 – November 30th, 2020

Award: The Flash Essay Contest winner will receive $500 and publication in Sweet. All other entries will be considered for regular publication in Sweet.

Judge: Brenda Miller

Submit: Submittable

Guidelines:

  • Submissions should be between 500 – 1,000 words and double-spaced
  • Please remove all identifying information from your manuscript
  • Submissions must be previously unpublished
  • Simultaneous submissions are welcome; however, please withdraw your entry immediately via Submittable if it is accepted for publication elsewhere
  • The contest entry fee is $10, and all submissions will also be considered for regular publication. 



The CLMP Code of Ethics: CLMP’s community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to 1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; 2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines — defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and 3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.

Winner of inaugural Poetry Competition.

July 31, 2018 / / 0 Comments

From ten finalist poems selected by Sweet editors, final judge Chelsea Dingman (National Poetry Series Winner for Thaw, 2017) chose McKayla Conahan’s poem “1943” as the winner of the inaugural Sweet Poetry Competition. Conahan will receive $500 and 10 broadsides of the poem.

Sarah Stockton’s poem “Protection Rite for Most of the Girls” was noted as a runner up.

The other finalists were:
Bailey Cohen: “Self-Portrait of Yurico Praying to Mosquito with Snapped Proboscis”
Andrew Dugan: “Milk Thistle”
Kelsey Frank: “In the Produce Section”
Grace Gilbert: “threnody for what’s left of you”
Phyllis Klein: “Hardware”
Pete Mackey: “The Grief”
Allie Marini: “Vanished”
Sara Ryan: “My Father Asks if I Was Raised by a Jackal”

These poems will be published in the September issue of Sweet. Many thanks to all who entered their fine work.

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