Submit to Shō Poetry Journal
Poetry Submissions reopen December 15, 2025
Submissions are accepted via Submittable. Please do not send submissions via our contact form, email, or social media channels; they will be discarded.
We encourage submitters to familiarize themselves with work previously published in Shō Poetry Journal. US-based poets may purchase print issues here, and individual poems are available to read online for free.
Submission Guidelines: Poetry
Reading Periods
Summer issue: December 15 to March 15
Winter issue: June 1 to August 31
Shō Poetry Journal offers a 30-day response time to all submissions made through Submittable. Our reading fee of $3 helps us produce and distribute print issues to all of our contributors, including international contributors and cover artists, and makes it feasible for us to offer this expedited response.
Submissions to Shō Poetry Journal are always free for U.S. Indigenous Poets. We also offer at least one free pop-up window to BIPOC poets during every reading period and occasionally offer free pop-ups to all. Dates are announced—with advance notice—on Instagram. Follow us on Submittable to see when we’re open!
Guidelines
We are interested in reading groups of poems as well as individual poems that can stand alone. We do not accept AI-generated work.
1. Upload up to five poems in a single PDF or Word document:
- List your name on every page
- Number each page
- Name your file as follows: FirstName_LastLame (e.g. Danez_Smith.pdf)
- Do not include poems that have been posted online or published in any form
2. Include a cover letter (pasted into Submittable):
- List the titles you are submitting
- Include a short third-person author biography (roughly 60 words or less)
- Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as you specify this in your cover letter.
- (Optional) Include any information you would like to share, e.g.
- Are the poems part of a forthcoming book or manuscript?
- If you’ve read previous issues/poems online or have any ties to the poets we’ve published, feel free mention them; we love hearing which poems resonate with readers.
- If your poem is ‘after’ another poet or artwork, please name the piece it’s after.
We do not accept multiple submissions. Once you’ve heard back from us, you may submit again. We do not currently place a cap on the number of times a person may submit during a single reading period, but ask that you submit your best work!
Response time
Our average response time is 2 weeks. We read and accept work as we go and attempt to respond to all submissions within 30 days or less.
If your submission is more than 30 days old and you have not received a response, please check your Submittable account and send us a message. Often, submitters may not see a response because their email notifications appear in their spam folders.
Payment
Shō Poetry Journal is a print journal. Payment is one contributor’s copy. US-based authors also receive a discount on the purchase of extra copies.
All work accepted for publication from U.S.-based contributors will be considered for the Shō Poetry Prize (best poem or group of poems in issue) and the Sita Martin Prize (best poem or group of poems by a poet with no full-length collection). Each winner receives $150 and a one-year subscription to Shō Poetry Journal.
Copyright
Shō Poetry Journal requests first serial rights, as well as the right to republish accepted works on our website and/or to use excerpts in our social media feeds and submit work to venues such as Poetry Daily and Verse Daily. Rights revert to the author upon publication; however, please credit Shō Poetry Journal with first publication if the work is republished elsewhere.
Mail submissions for incarcerated poets
Shō Poetry Journal welcomes mail submissions from incarcerated poets during our reading periods (December 15 – March 15 and June 1 – August 31).
Send a cover letter, brief biographical statement, and up to five unpublished poems to:
Shō Poetry Journal
P.O. Box 4410
Chino Valley, AZ 86323
All submissions must be accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE).
Please allow 1 – 4 months for a response. Unfortunately, we do not currently have the capacity to respond to non-poetry submissions or requests for general information.
For more opportunities for incarcerated writers, see this list of resources compiled by Sonya Huber.
Submission Guidelines: Cover Art
Cover Art Submissions are closed.
Payment for cover art is one contributor copy and a small honorarium.
For more information about our cover art, see our FAQ.
Full guidelines
- Submit up to eight original high-resolution images (as individual images). We will consider one submission per artist.
- We are interested in a variety of mediums, but have a strong preference for painting and illustration in full color. We will also consider photography, graphic design, and mixed media. We are open to all styles.
Please include the following information in your cover letter:
- The title(s) of your work, medium, year completed.
- A short third-person biographical statement (approx. 50 words) and links to your portfolio or any social media platforms you use to promote your work.
- An artist’s statement (optional).
- If the artwork you are submitting has appeared online or in a gallery, please include a link. If it is previously unpublished (including blogs and social media), please mention this. Please do not include artwork that has previously appeared in print.
Image requirements
- Art must not have been created or manipulated using AI.
- File format: jpg, png, or tiff
- Resolution: 300 dpi
- Image size: At least 1875 x 2775 pixels. We will consider landscape-oriented images if they can wrap around the front and back of the journal, with enough negative space on the back to list contributor names.