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. The entrance fee, covering both categories, will be twice the cost of one category.
Full guidelines are below. For questions, email [email protected].
GUIDELINES
- Deadline (for receipt of submission form): December 4, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time
- Books must be published between January 1, 2026, and December 31, 2026. 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 December 4, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Contact [email protected] if you need to make other arrangements.
- After submitting your book for awards consideration, you will receive an invoice from The Publishing Triangle with instructions on how to how to remit your submission fee and other important information.
- 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 six (6) submissions for free. (A single book’s submission in 2 categories counts as 2 submissions.) After that, the fee is $50 per additional title.
- All others must pay an entry fee of $50 per submission.
- A title submitted in two categories requires a $100 fee. A title submitted in thre categories requires a $150 fee.
- Submissions from Canada or elsewhere outside the U.S.: Contact [email protected] for special payment instructions, telling us how many books/categories you intend to enter.
- 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 4, 2026 deadline.)
A list of the previous winners is available on our website, here.
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.