Thank you for your interest in Inlandia!
- Submissions to Inlandia: A Literary Journey, Inlandia's online literary journal. We publish two issues per year: Fall is an open issue for all submitters. Spring is an all-teen issue guest-edited and featuring exclusively work by teens.
- Writing from Inlandia, the annual anthology of creative work produced by the Inlandia Creative Writing Workshops.
- Inlandia Books - Literary and Community for book manuscripts. (Closed to submissions until 2024 unless previously invited to revise and resubmit.)
- The Hillary Gravendyk Prize (Opens February 1 and closes April 30 annually.)
- The Eliud Martínez Prize (Opens November 1 and closes January 31 annually.)
And other projects as they come up.
Each category has a separate review period & guidelines. If you do not see it as an open category below, then it is currently closed. Please check back. Before submitting, please be familiar with the guidelines.
By your submission you are acknowledging that you have read through our guidelines carefully and agree to all terms.
The 2024 Hillary Gravendyk Prize
Sponsored by Inlandia Institute and published by Inlandia Books
One National and one Regional Winner will each be awarded $1000 and book publication.
The Hillary Gravendyk Prize is an open poetry book competition for all writers regardless of the number of previously published poetry collections. The manuscript page limit is 48 - 100 pages, and the press invites all styles and forms of poetry. Only electronic submissions accepted via Inlandia’s Submittable portal. Entries must be received online by April 30, 2024 at midnight Pacific Standard Time. Reading fee is $20. The winners will be announced late Summer/Fall 2024, for publication in 2025.
The competition was created in memory of the late Inland Empire poet, Hillary Gravendyk, who passed away in 2014.
HILLARY GRAVENDYK (1979-2014) was a beloved poet living and teaching in Southern California’s “Inland Empire” region. She wrote the acclaimed poetry book, HARM from Omnidawn Publishing (2012) and the poetry collection The Naturalist (Anchiote Press, 2008). A native of Washington State, she was an admired Assistant Professor of English at Pomona College in Claremont, CA. Her poetry has appeared widely in journals such as American Letters & Commentary, The Bellingham Review, The Colorado Review, The Eleventh Muse, Fourteen Hills, MARY, 1913: A Journal of Forms, Octopus Magazine, Tarpaulin Sky and Sugar House Review. She was awarded a 2015 Pushcart Prize for her poem "Your Ghost," which appeared in the Pushcart Prize Anthology. She leaves behind many devoted colleagues, friends, family and beautiful poems. Hillary Gravendyk passed away on May 10, 2014 after a long illness. This contest has been established in her memory.
The details: One contest, two prizes, each award is granted publication and $1000: All entrants will be considered for the National Prize, and entrants who currently reside or work in Inland Southern California, the “Inland Empire,” will also be considered for the Regional Prize (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, and any non-coastal Southern California area, from Death Valley in the northernmost region to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in the southernmost). If you believe you reside or work in an area that falls within the I.E., please select the “Yes, I reside in the I.E.” checkbox on the Submittable form, or if you’re not sure, please contact the Inlandia Institute at Inlandia@InlandiaInstitute.org.) In addition, the editors may select one or more additional books for publication.
Eligibility: Any American writer may enter the contest, with the exception of current colleagues and/or students, close friends, or family of the judge. Additionally, anyone currently serving in the Inlandia Institute in the last two years, either as an employee or on the Inlandia Institute Board of Directors, or is a close family member of the above, is not eligible.
Manuscript Requirements: Please submit 48-100 pages of poetry through our Submittable portal as a .doc, .docx, or .pdf.
***Submissions are read without identifying information.***Do not include your name or any identifiable information on the manuscript itself.*** Do not include a cover page.***Do not attach an acknowledgements page.***
No revisions to the manuscript are allowed while the contest is running; however, if your manuscript is selected for publication, revisions may be submitted at that time. Please use a standard 11 or 12 point font. If there is a significant amount of non-standard formatting, please submit as a PDF to ensure formatting remains intact. Individual poems may have been published in journals, anthologies, chapbooks, etc., but the collection as a whole must be unpublished.
Submission fee: $20 per manuscript. Multiple submissions accepted but a separate entry fee is required for each manuscript submitted. Simultaneous submissions also accepted. If accepted elsewhere, please formally withdraw your manuscript from consideration via the Submittable portal.
Prize: Each winner will receive $1000, 20 copies of their book, and a standard book contract.
The manuscripts will be screened by MFA students from local colleges and universities.
Inlandia Institute is a literary nonprofit and publishing house based in Inland Southern California dedicated to celebrating the region in word, image, and sound. Hillary Gravendyk Prize winners have gone on to win other post-publication prizes, including Rachelle Cruz's 2016 God's Will for Monsters, which received an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation.
Hillary Gravendyk Prize winners to date include Will Barnes, Tiffany Elliott, Angelica Maria Barraza, Alexandra Martinez, Michael Samra, Jonathan Maule, Bronwen Tate, Adam Martinez, Michelle Peñaloza, Elizabeth Cantwell, Malcolm Friend, Rachelle Cruz, Marco Maisto, Kenji C. Liu, and Angela Peñaredondo.