2027 Ghost Peach Press Prize in Poetry
This contest for a full-length poetry collection will open on January 1, 2027.
The contest is open to any poet writing in English who has not yet published more than one full-length book in poetry (poets with multiple chapbooks are eligible), and offers a cash prize of $1,000 and publication, as well as ten copies of the published book
Entries will first be read by Ghost Peach Press’s panel of editors, and 2027 judge (TBD) will choose the winning collection from ten finalists. All manuscripts should include a title page, table of contents, and an acknowledgements page (if applicable). No identifying information should be included in the submission. Manuscripts should be paginated and formatted in a pleasant-to-read font (as in, not comic sans), with no more than one poem per page. Manuscripts should consist of 48 – 90 pages of poetry (not including front and back matter). We prefer that you are ethical and do not submit if you are related to/work with/are besties with or otherwise have personal connections to the judge which could cause your work to be recognized.
Ghost Peach Press accepts the $22/27 entry fee exclusively through our Submittable page. The entry fee is due at the time of submission; the $27 fee option includes a copy of the winning book upon its publication. Please email us at coatofbirdseditors@gmail.com if this fee causes a financial burden. The contest runs from January 1st, 2027 – April 30th, 2027. We aim to announce the winner by December 2027 and publication is expected in late 2028.
About Our 2026 Judge
Emily Skaja is the author of BRUTE, winner of the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, and BLACK LAKE, forthcoming from Graywolf in September 2026. Her poems appear in American Poetry Review, The Nation, and Poetry. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Civitella Ranieri Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and she is the founding editor of the Poetry Prompt Generator, an online resource for poets and educators. She was educated at Millikin University (BA), Temple University (MA), Purdue University (MFA), and the University of Cincinnati (PhD), and now teaches in the MFA program at the University of Memphis.
2025 Ghost Peach Press Prize in Poetry
Offered Publication
Ah, Holy Spirit, Devan Murphy
Overwintered, Elina Katrin
Finalists
One Day We Will Live Inside the Body of Another, Shannon Austin
Beast-Headed, Rivka Clifton
Overwintered, Elina Katrin
What Stays in the Lake, Jacob Lindberg
Lush the Cradle, Kristin Macintyre
Ah, Holy Spirit, Devan Murphy
Touchstruck, Mollie O’Leary
Notes From the Field, Scarlett Peterson
Alive in the Glamour Pit, Ashe Prevett
When I Was My Brother’s Brother, Zack Rybak
Past winners include: Laura Page, Dove and Coyote (available here), Mirande Bissell, Stalin at the Opera (available here), Gion Davis, Too Much (available here), Loisa Fenichell, wandering in all directions of this earth (available here), Christen Noel Kauffman, The Science of Things We Can Believe (available here), and Caroline Chavatel, Consume Her (available here).
