2027 Chapbook Contest Rules

Open for Submission September 1, 2026-February 1, 2027

The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets is dedicated to promoting poetry in Wisconsin and seeks to honor the best chapbooks published in the previous year by Wisconsin residents.

1. Contestant must be a Wisconsin resident 18 years of age or older. A resident is a person who maintains a permanent residence in Wisconsin or who has lived for at least six months in the state during 2026.

2. Contest opens September 1, 2026. Entry form must be completed in full, included with submission and entry fee, and postmarked by February 1, 2027.

3. Chapbooks must be published in 2026. Proof of publication date must be printed in the book.

4. Total finished length is not to exceed 48 pages.

5. Chapbooks may be entered by the author or the publisher, and may be self-published.

6. Chapbooks can be published in collaboration between multiple poets.

7. The non-refundable entry fee is $7 per chapbook for WFOP members and $15 per chapbook for non-members. Mail chapbook, entry form, and check (made out to WFOP Literary Fund) to:

Dr. Seth Copeland
1711 E. Locust Street
Apartment 6
Milwaukee, WI 53211

8. Prizes: 1st Place – $200; 2nd Place – $100; 3rd Place – $50. Prizes will be awarded only if there are sufficient entries and the contest judge determines that an entry warrants a prize.

9. Winners will be notified prior to announcement at the May 2026 Conference, and posted in the Summer Museletter and at wfop.org.

10. The 1st Place winner of the WFOP Chapbook Prize will be ineligible to enter that contest again for three years.

The WFOP is not responsible for lost books. Entrants will receive email acknowledgment of receipt. Entries will not be returned. Failure to follow any of the above rules may result in disqualification. Author retains all rights to his/her work.

Questions? Email Seth Copeland.

This Year’s Judge: Ben Kline

Ben Kline lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. A poet, information professional, and one of the team behind the University of Cincinnati Libraries POETRY STACKED series, Ben is the author of Twang (ELJ Editions) and Stiff Wrist (fourteen poems,) as well as the 2026 Lambda Literary Award winning collection It Was Never Supposed to Be (Variant Literature.) His work has appeared in Copper Nickel, Florida Review, Palette Poetry, Hayden's Ferry Review, DIAGRAM, and other publications.