THE AUDRE LORDE–THOM GUNN AWARDS FOR LESBIAN & GAY POETRY

Established in 2000, these awards recognize excellence in poetry. The Audre Lorde Award is for a book of poems by a lesbian, bisexual woman, or trans woman; the Thom Gunn Award is for a book of poems by a gay man, bisexual man, or trans man.

Books must be published in a standard edition (48 or more pages long) in the United States or Canada. Chapbooks are not eligible. Anthologies are not eligible.

A book may be submitted for one of these poetry awards as well as for the Publishing Triangle Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature; in that case, the entrance fee, covering both categories, is $80.

Full guidelines are below. For questions, email [email protected].

GUIDELINES

  • Deadline (for receipt of submission form): December 11, 2023 / Submission fee: $40
  • Books must be published between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023. A print edition must be available—titles published only in e-book format are not eligible.
  • All submissions will be done online, via our submission form. Submissions will not be accepted after 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, December 11, 2023. Contact [email protected] if you need to make other arrangements.
  • All current, dues-paying individual members of the Publishing Triangle may submit 1 book in 1 category for free. If you yourself will not be supplying the books as well, please provide a contact name at the publisher whom we may contact for the requisite number of books.
  • All current, dues-paying corporate members of the Publishing Triangle may enter up to eight (8) submissions for free. (A single book’s submission in 2 categories counts as 2 submissions.) After that, the fee is $40 per additional title.
  • All others must pay an entry fee of $40 per submission. Payment is by PayPal (which also accepts credit cards; no account required) or by check or money order sent to our mailing address.
  • Submissions from Canada or elsewhere outside the U.S.: If you are not paying via PayPal, contact [email protected] for special payment instructions, telling us how many books/categories you intend to enter.
  • Entrance fees are due with the submission form. For those paying by check or money order, you should mail it to us within 5 working days of when you submit the submission. In any case, we must receive it no later than January 12, 2024; if payment is not received by then, the book will be removed from the competition. Payments via check or money order should be mailed to The Publishing Triangle, 511 Avenue of the Americas, #D36, New York, NY 10011.
  • Questions about membership? Email [email protected].
  • For more information on the eligibility of anthologies, collections of previously published materials, and other special cases, e-mail [email protected].
  • The decisions of the coordinators and/or judges regarding eligibility are final.
  • After we have received and processed your submission form and payment, the coordinator of each individual award will email you instructions as to where books should be sent. (Do not jump the gun and mail us any books before we request them!) In many categories, some judges, but not all, may prefer to read in e-book format. (Note: The mailing of books from submitters and the receipt of books by judges are not governed by the December 11, 2023 deadline.)
  • A title submitted in two categories requires an $80 fee.
  • If you are submitting more than one book for consideration, you do not have to send separate checks (i.e., send an $80 check for 2 separate titles, etc.). Nor do you have to send in separate envelopes.

A list of the previous winners is available on our website, here.

Finalists/nominees will be notified in March 2024.

Note: Submission for a Triangle Award does not equal “nomination”: authors and publishers are requested not to use the latter term on their websites or in any promotional material.