The Open Competition for Best New Poets 2008 ended June 5. We are not accepting any more entries.

Best New Poets is an annual anthology of 50 poems from emerging writers. This year's guest editor is Mark Strand, and he will select 50 poems from from nominations made by literary magazines and writing programs, as well as an Open Internet Competition.

Each February, we contact writing programs and literary magazines and send them instructions on how to nominate their writers. Programs and magazines have until April 15 to make nominations; after that date, we contact their nominated poets and ask those writers to upload work during our April 15 to June 5 submission window. So, if you've just had a poem published in a magazine or are enrolled in a creative writing program, you might consider asking them to nominate you.

If you don't receive a program or magazine nomination, there's also the Open Internet Competition, which is open to all writers who have not published a book-length collection of poetry. Unlike the free magazine and program nominations, the Open Competition requires a reading fee of $3.50. All poems are submitted online through ManuscriptHub.com. That system will take entries for Best New Poets 2008 from April 15 to June 5, 2008. Click here for details.