Furious Flower Poetry Prizes

Opening Soon: Submissions for the 2026 Furious Flower Poetry Prize will be accepted December 15, 2025 - February 15, 2026.

Poetry Prize Banner Furious Flower invites submissions from emerging writers for its annual poetry prize. Poets with no more than one published book are invited to submit up to three poems (no more than a total of 6 pages) for consideration. The winner and honorable mention receive $1500 and $750, respectively, and will be invited to read at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA, in September 2026. The winner, honorable mention, and select finalists will also be published in Obsidian. Winners are announced in April.

Submission fee: $20

2026 Judge: Major Jackson

Major Jackson is the award-winning author of six books of poetry. Jackson is the recipient of multiple fellowships, including fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Major Jackson has been awarded a multitude of prizes and has been honored by the Witter Bynner Foundation in conjunction with the Library of Congress. Major Jackson lives in Nashville, TN where he is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities at Vanderbilt University. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in literature.

How to submit your work

Go to Submittable

Make a free Submittable account
Read eligibility requirements
Fill out the form and pay the non-refundable $20 submission fee
Attach a pdf of your poems (no more than 6 pages) and ensure no identifying information is in the manuscript or the filename

2025 Winners

Martins Deep - Winner

Martins Deep (he/him) is a poet, photographer, digital artist, and a graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. His manuscript, “Sighs in Translation”, achieved semifinalist status for the ’23 Sillerman Prize. His creative works have graced—or are forthcoming—in publications including Magma Poetry, Strange Horizons, Heartlines Spec, Fiyah, Lolwe, and Tahoma Literary Review. Martins Deep is this year’s 2025 Furious Flower Poetry Prize Winner.

Ian-Khara Ellasante - Honorable Mention

Ian-Khara Ellasante (they/them) is a Black, queer, trans-nonbinary poet and cultural studies scholar. Ian-Khara’s poetry has been published in We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics, The Feminist Wire, Nat. Brut, Hinchas de Poesía, The Volta, and more. Ian-Khara is a 2023 Cave Canem Fellow and has received the New Millennium Award for Poetry and the Ashley Bryan Fellowship. Ian-Khara is a Point Foundation Scholar and an alum of the University of Memphis (BA) and the University of Arizona (MA and PhD). Proudly hailing from Memphis, Ian-Khara lives in southern Maine, where they are an Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Bates College.