Cave Canem: Derricotte/Eady Prize/ How To Submit (Prize: $1,000)

The Derricotte/Eady Prize, named after Cave Canem co-founders Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady, spotlights chapbook-length manuscripts.

Awarded to one poet annually, the prize recipient receives a monetary award, publication of their manuscript through O, Miami Books, a residency at The Writer’s Room at The Betsy Hotel-South Beach, and a featured reading at the O, Miami Festival in April.

Cave Canem partners with O, Miami to produce the annual Derricotte/Eady Prize in collaboration with The Writer’s Room at The Betsy Hotel-South Beach. If you are having a problem with your writing, please read this article: How to Overcome Writer’s Block (10 Tips + Personal Examples) 

Submission Guidelines For Cave Canem: Derricotte/Eady Prize

• Manuscripts must be submitted online via Submittable. Hard-copy submissions will not be considered.

• One manuscript per poet is allowed.

• The manuscript must include a title page with the title only and a table of contents. The author’s name should not appear anywhere within the uploaded document.

• Manuscripts must be paginated, using a font size of 11 or 12, and should be 25-30 pages long, inclusive of the title page and table of contents. Only one poem is allowed per page, though a poem may span multiple pages.

• Manuscripts not adhering to submission guidelines will not be considered.

• A cover letter should accompany the submission and must include a brief author bio (maximum 500 words) and a list of acknowledgments of previously published poems. This information must not be included within the manuscript itself.

• No post-submission revisions or corrections are allowed.

Eligibility Criteria For Cave Canem: Derricotte/Eady Prize

This prize is open to all unpublished, original collections of poems written in English. However, it is not a first-book award. The competition is open to Black poets, defined by Cave Canem as any poet who identifies as a member of the African Diaspora.

If an applicant has submitted the same manuscript to other book awards and receives an award, they must disclose this to Cave Canem.

Exclusions

Ineligible applicants include:

• Current or former students, colleagues, employees, family members, and close friends of the judge.

• Current or former employees and board members of Cave Canem Foundation or O, Miami.

• Authors who have published a book or have a book under contract with Jai-Alai Books.

 

Award

The 2025 Derricotte/Eady Prize winner will receive:

• A $1,000 cash prize.

• Publication of their manuscript through O, Miami Books.

• 10 copies of their chapbook.

• A residency at The Writer’s Room at The Betsy Hotel-South Beach.

• A featured reading at the O, Miami Festival in April.

Deadline

The application period runs from October 1, 2024, to November 6, 2024. Manuscripts submitted after 11:59 PM ET on November 6, will be ignored.