The 2025 Rising Poet Chapbook Prize- Submissions Open March 10th

Submission Window: March 10th, 2025 at 12:01 am EST through August 10th, 2025 at 11:59 pm.

Prize: Publication by Shadow Dog Press Independent Publishing House, a transparent and competitive royalties contract including a $500 advance payable upon signing, 25 author copies, chapbook marketing & promotions, a multi-page feature in The SDL Review, a 5-year digital subscription to The SDL Review, and 2 print copies of the issue in which you are featured. Up to three prize packages will be awarded. All entries will be considered for offers of publication. 

Eligibility: The 2025 Rising Poet Chapbook Prize is open to previously unpublished chapbook-length manuscripts of poetry from all US-based poets who have not yet published a full-length collection.

Editor's Choice Awards

2026 Editor's Choice Awards - Call For Collections

We aim to award transparent publishing contracts with competitive royalties and varied advances plus 25 copies to 4 exceptional collections per year and provide a dedicated launch team to craft a tailored, robust launch and marketing campaign. Please read through the manuscript eligibility requirements and full submission guidelines before submitting your manuscript.

Submission Guidelines

2026 Editor's Choice Awards - Call For Novellas

We aim to award transparent publishing contracts with competitive royalties and varied advances plus 25 copies to 2 exceptional novellas per year and provide a dedicated launch team to craft a tailored, robust launch and marketing campaign. Please read through the manuscript eligibility requirements and full submission guidelines before submitting your manuscript.

Submission Guidelines

The SDL Review

2025 Submissions are OPEN

Submissions are now open for the new SDL Review, a paying lit journal/anthology hybrid. Available in print and digital editions.

The SDL Review is founded on the profound belief that poets and writers have the power to transcend boundaries, foster empathy, enhance understanding, and catalyze social change. We believe literature should reflect the complexity of life and we aim to offer a broader, more accurate view of the human condition.

The SDL Review- Publishing profound works of poetry, prose, visual art, articles, reviews, and indie news.

February • May • August • November 

We are drawn to evocative, raw, poignant, and powerful pieces of substance and style.
Pluck at our heartstrings, speak to our souls, send shivers down our spines, shine a light on our darkness, and uncover our unspoken truths.

Poetry & Prose up to 500 words  

Eligible work: Previously unpublished poetry and prose works up to 500 words (Poetry of all forms, flash fiction and CNF, essays, vignettes, and hybrid or experimental works)

Works of 500-1500 words

Eligible work: previously unpublished fiction, CNF, personal essays, prose poetry, hybrid or experimental works, and relevant articles between 500 words and 1500 words.

Visual Art

Eligible Art: We want to see your paintings, drawings, digital art, artistic photography, sculptures, metalwork, ceramics, woodworking, needlepoint, and quilting… we want to showcase all of your creations. (No ai rendered art.)

Poetry & Prose up to 500 words  

Eligible work: Previously unpublished poetry and prose works up to 500 words (Poetry of all forms, flash fiction and CNF, essays, vignettes, and hybrid or experimental works)

Works of 500-1500 words

Eligible work: previously unpublished fiction, CNF, personal essays, prose poetry, hybrid or experimental works, and relevant articles between 500 words and 1500 words.

Visual Art

Eligible Art: We want to see your paintings, drawings, digital art, artistic photography, sculptures, metalwork, ceramics, woodworking, needlepoint, and quilting… we want to showcase all of your creations. (No ai rendered art.)

Submit a Micro Review

The SDL Review regularly publishes reviews of new and upcoming poetry collections and chapbooks published by indie authors and presses.

Review Submissions-

We accept 275-350 word reviews and critiques of new and upcoming poetry collections and chapbooks via email and post them on our website and in the corresponding issue of the SDL Review. We do not publish hit pieces or takedowns, so please be sure that your review is fair and thoughtful, and that any criticism is delivered in a constructive manner.
There is no fee to submit and we do not pay for reviews, though we do promote the reviewer. 

Send your reviews to MicroReviewSubmissions@ShadowDogLit.org

Subscribe to The SDL Review Starting in April!