The Off tHe Grid Poetry Prize
The Off the Grid Prize recognizes the work of older poets and highlights important contemporary voices in poetry. Winners receive $1000 and publication, promotion, and distribution of their book in print and audio formats. We are looking for work by poets over 60, whose writing practice is ongoing and whose vision is fresh while drawing from six or more decades of lived experience.
Past judges have included Marilyn Nelson, Jennifer Tseng, Garrett Hongo, Marianne Boruch, and Gregory Orr.
The winner of the 2026 contest will be selected this coming fall by the poet and critic John Yau.
2025 Prizewinner
Elton Glaser, Soul Patch
Finalists
The Devil of the People, John Blair
Want, Kevin Clark
No Two Grains at Rest, Steve Leggett
By the time I had returned the blood, Ricardo H. J. León
Semifinalists
The Hunting Mother & Other Poems, Margaret Benbow
Latewood, Robin Dellabough
Rivermouth Shouting, Jean Gallagher
Practice Baby, Karen Hildebrand
Blue Chore Coat, Daye Phillippo
On the Way Here, Frances Richey
What Follows, Matthew J. Spireng
Previous Winners
2024: Wayfarers by Jane Medved
2023: Woman at the Crossing by Susan Okie
2022: Swansdown by Donald Platt
2021: More American by Sharon Hashimoto
2020: This is Where I Live I Have Nowhere Else to Go by Dennis Hinrichsen
2019: Breather by Ioanna Carlsen
2018: My Own Name Seems Strange to Me by Karen Whalley
2017: Improbable Creatures by Jon Davis
2016: Cold Storage by Keith Althaus
2015: Finestra’s Window by Patricia Corbus
2014: Doggerland by Dicko King
2013: Dollhouse by Elaine Terranova
2012: Coyote Bush by Peter Nash
2026 Contest Guidelines
1. The competition is open only to poets aged 60 years or older.
2. Submissions will be open from May 1 to August 31, 2025. The winner will be announced in December of 2025.
3. The winner will receive $1,000 and publication, promotion, and distribution in print and audiobook formats. The entry fee is $25.
4. Manuscripts must be typed, paginated, and at least 50 pages in length. Manuscripts must have a table of contents and include a list of acknowledgments for poems previously published. There should be one title page with the book title only.
5. Do not include your name, or any information that identifies authorship, anywhere in the actual manuscript. All contact information (name, address, phone, email) should be included in the cover letter submitted via Submittable.
6. Individual poems from the manuscript may have been previously published in magazines, anthologies, or chapbooks of less than 35 pages, but the collection as a whole must be unpublished. Previously self-published books are not eligible.
7. Former students of the contest judge may not submit to the contest. Students do not include interactions at short-term residencies or fellowships.
8. AI-generated works are not eligible for this contest.
9. Please submit online via Submittable.
10. Send inquiries to info@grid-books.org.
We are proud to participate in Mass Cultural Council's Card to Culture program in collaboration with the Department of Transitional Assistance, the Department of Public Health's WIC Nutrition Program, the Massachusetts Health Connector, and hundreds of organizations by making cultural programming accessible to those for whom cost is a participation barrier.
EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare cardholders will have their contest submission fee waived. Interested applications should contact info@grid-books.org with a request to submit as part of this program.
See the complete list of participating organizations offering EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare discounts.
