Since last year’s contest was such a success, Poetry by the Sea, in partnership with the Wild & Precious Life Series, is running a second Villanelle Contest, The Gylys Villanelle Prize. The winning poet will be awarded a prize of $500 and invited to read the piece at the May 2026 Poetry by the Sea Conference. We welcome traditional villanelles, as well as artful variations that push the boundaries of the form. The contest will open on September 1, 2025. Submissions and payment must be received by Midnight on October 12, 2025.
Full Guidelines
1. Villanelles must be previously unpublished.
2. In the cover letter area, provide your name and contact information, and list the full titles of the single villanelles you are submitting.
3. Place up to four single villanelles in ONE Word document, indicating the category at the top of the page: “Single Villanelles.” Upload your Word document(s) to Submittable. Important: The final judge for the contest will judge ANONYMOUSLY. Do NOT include your name or any identifying information in the Word document(s) or file name(s).
4. Please pay the reading fee through Submittable [you do not need a PayPal account to enter]. Only entries accompanied by the appropriate payment will be read. The reading fee schedule and links to Submittable are as follows:
- Enter 1 single villanelle for $12
- Enter 2 single villanelles for $16
- Enter 3 single villanelles for $20
- Enter 4 single villanelles for $24
2025 Final Judge – Randall Mann
[Note: current and former students of Randall Mann (in an academic setting) should NOT enter.]
Randall Mann is the author of six poetry collections, most recently Deal: New and Selected Poems (Copper Canyon Press, 2023). His recent poems appear in the New York Review of Books, New Republic, Sewanee Review, Salmagundi, and elsewhere. He works in biotech, teaches at the Bennington Writing Seminars, and lives in San Francisco.
About Beth Gylys
Award-winning author and the co-founder/Principal Investigator of Beyond Bars: A Journal of Literature and Art, a Mellon sponsored literary journal for incarcerated writers and artists, Beth Gylys is the author of five books of poetry and three chapbooks. Her last two full-length collections (The Conversation Turns to Wide Mouth Jars—co-written with Cathy Carlisi and Jennifer Wheelock—and Body Braille) were both named Books All Georgians Should Read. Her work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in the Birmingham Poetry Review, West Branch, The James Dickey Review, SWWIM and on the Best American Poetry blog. Click here for more information.
