Submissions are now open for the 2022 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, to be judged by Willie Perdomo. The annual contest is dedicated to the discovery of first books by Black poets. The winner receives $1,000, publication by University of Georgia Press in fall 2023, 15 copies of the book, and a feature reading. Both the winner and runner-up will be invited to individual critique sessions with the final judge. Black poets who have not had a full-length book of poetry published by a professional press are encouraged to apply by January 31. The contest is free to enter. Complete details and submission guidelines may be found here.

Willie Perdomo is the author of Smoking Lovely: The Remix (Haymarket Books, 2021), The Crazy Bunch (Penguin Random House, 2019), The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon (Penguin Random House, 2014), and Where a Nickel Costs of Dime (Norton, 1996). Winner of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Cy Twombly Award for Poetry, the New York City Book Award in Poetry, and the PEN Open Book Award, Perdomo was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Poetry Society of America Norma Farber First Book Award.  He is co-editor of the anthology, Latínext, and his work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Poetry, Washington Post, The Best American Poetry 2019, and African Voices. He is currently a Lucas Arts Literary Fellow, a core faculty member at VONA/Voices of our Nation Writing Workshop, and teaches at Phillips Exeter Academy.

The Cave Canem Poetry Prize was initiated in 1999 with Rita Dove’s selection of Natasha Trethewey’s Domestic Work. Most recently, Rachel Eliza Griffiths selected Courtney Faye Taylor as the winner of the 2021 Cave Canem Poetry Prize.