Bauhan Publishing is an independent Publisher in Peterborough, New Hampshire. We focus on New England regional books in the areas of history, art, nature studies, and poetry, as well as venturing into thoughtful books that explore sustainability of both the earth and the spirit.

We host the May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize annually which accepts previously unpublished poetry manuscripts from poets around the world and on any subject matter, and occasionally the Monadnock Essay Collection Prize for book-length collections of nonfiction essays. The winners receive a cash prize and publication of their book. 

$30.00

Deadline: June 30th!

Bauhan Publishing is accepting submissions for the 2023 May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize.

  • PLEASE READ ALL DIRECTIONS!!!
  • With the success of our first twelve contests, we are pleased to accept submissions for our next prize—in our thirteenth year! We hope you will join one of these previous winners: Rebecca Givens Rolland for her collection The Wreck of Birds (2012), Nils Michal for his collection, Come Down to Earth (2013), David Koehn for his collection, Twine (April 2014), Deborah Gorlin for her collection Life of the Garment (April 2015), Desirée Alvarez for her collection, Devil's Paintbrush (March 2016), Zeina Hashem Beck for her collection Louder Than Hearts (Spring 2017), Jen Town for her collection All The Light We Cannot See (Spring 2018), Marilee Richards for her collection The Double Zero (Spring 2019), Dorsey Olbrich for her collection, Plunder (Spring 2020), Alexa Doran for her collection, DM Me, Mother Darling (Spring 2021), Richard Smith for his collection, Not a Soul But Us (Spring 2022) and Catherine Arnold for her collection Receipt For Lost Words (Spring 2023).
  • The winner receives $1000, book publication, and 50 copies of the published book, as well as distribution with our other spring titles through our distributor (Pathway Book Service).
  • We are pleased to announce this year's judge, poet, Brad Crenshaw, from Amherst, Massachusetts  We do not pre-screen; all manuscripts go to the judge.
  • Below are the submission guidelines—if you have any questions, please email us with "May Sarton Prize" in the subject line.
  • Multiples entries are accepted for $30 per entry. 
  • If you need to edit your manuscript, please send a message through Submittable or an email to contest@bauhanpublishing.com asking us to "open for editing." There is no reason to "withdraw" your manuscript and then have to pay another $30 to submit it again.
  • Please note: this contest is open to submissions worldwide.  "New Hampshire" in the title just differentiates it from another May Sarton contest.



Submission guidelines:

1. TITLE PAGE WITH NO NAME

2. Please, NO ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, biographical material, or dedication pages in the manuscript - or in the file name. We will gather your name and contact information through your Submittable account. The manuscripts uploaded must be without identifying information for a blind judging.

3. Manuscripts must be typed and paginated. We are looking for collections that are roughly 50 to 80 pages in length, as a PDF or Word Doc.

4.. Translations and self-published books are not eligible. The manuscript must be the product of only one author.

5. Any person who has studied poetry in a formal program with this year's judge, Brad Crenshaw, through a college, university, community program, residency, or private tutorial within the last two years is not eligible to submit a manuscript to this contest.

6. No illustrations, photographs or images should be included.

7. The actual manuscript should include ONLY the following:  TITLE PAGE (with no name), TABLE OF CONTENTS, POEMS.

8. The winner will be announced by September 2023 publicly via press release, social media, and our website at Bauhan Publishing. We will notify the winner and finalists prior to the announcement, as well as email all contestants through Submittable before publishing the results. Please ensure that you can receive email from bauhanpublishing.com and Submittable.

9. Bauhan Publishing reserves the right to cancel the contest for any reason. In that unlikely event, all entry fees will be returned to contestants.


10. If you need to edit your manuscript or change anything before the deadline, please go to your submission and ask us to open it for editing (or email us, and we will open it for you.) There is no need to withdraw your manuscript and then pay to re-submit.

11. GOOD LUCK!

Please contact us at contest@bauhanpublishing.com with any questions. 

Bauhan Publishing