Submissions for the 2026 Furious Flower Poetry Prize are currently closed. Our next submission period will open December 15, 2026.
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
Wes Matthews - Winner
Wes Matthews is a Detroit-born, DC-based poet and educator. His poems have appeared in Gulf Coast, Muzzle, Bellevue, and elsewhere. He graduated from Penn in 2023 with a B.A. in Anthropology and Religious Studies. In 2025, he earned a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) degree from Harvard Divinity School. Wes is a 2025 Cave Canem Fellow and a former youth poet laureate of Philadelphia.
Sherina Rodriguez Sharpe - Honorable Mention
As a survivor of gender violence, Sherina Rodriguez Sharpe has dedicated her life to using art and ancestral rituals to transform trauma into power. Named “Medicine Woman of Racial Healing" by the elders of her tradition, Sherina is a Cultural Architect.
She guides freedom movements that call down outdated patterns and open a higher road of joy, mutual care, play, and deeper community relationships. She directs The TETRA: Digital Underground Railroad, a secret liberation journey that hosts over 31,000 “Riders” with her partner, Chace Morris. Her healing methodologies are taught at Howard, Harvard, and Yale. Sharpe is a two-time Kresge Fellow (2024 & 2014), Cave Canem Fellow, & VONA author. When she’s not in ritual, Sherina can be found cuddling her chihuahuas and making lavender sweet tea.
Past Winners
2025
- Martins Deep - Winner
- Ian-Khara Ellasante - Honorable Mention
2024
- Michelle Alexander - Winner
- RaeJeana Brooks - Honorable Mention
2023
- Alafia Nicole Sessions - Winner
- Marissa Davis - Honorable Mention
2022
- Ariana Benson - Winner
- Benin Lemus - Honorable Mention
2021
- Aurielle Marie - Winner
- Jennifer Bartell Boykin - Honorable Mention
2020
- Diamond Forde - Winner
- Nathan John - Honorable Mention
2019
- Rachelle Parker - Winner
- Cynthia Manick - Honorable Mention
2018
- Heather Tresler - Winner
- Keith Wilson - Honorable Mention
2017
- Tiana Clark - Winner
- Clemonce Heard - Honorable Mention
Past Prizes
Furious Flower Quarantine Kwansaba Contest (2020)
Furious Flower Poetry Contest for emerging creative writers in response to the COVID-19 quarantine.
Winner:
Turning - Angel C. Dye
Finalists:
Glenis Redmond Believed to be the First Black Woman Photographed with a Typewriter
Sherese Francis, Dream Conducts a Mother Tongue's Memory.
