2022 Button Poetry Video Contest Winners

The 2023 Button Poetry Chapbook Contest is NOW OPEN!

GRAND CHAMPION
My Brother’s Keeper – Shockie G.
RUNNER-UP
State Property (Poisoned Fruit) – Nick Courmon
CATEGORY WINNERS
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Winner
b l k – Jassmine Parks
Runner-Up
Coach Carter – Darian Dauchan
EMERGING WRITERS
Metaphor – Jazmine Bunch
INTERNATIONAL SUBMITTERS
Winner
Subtleties of Shanghai – Angela Kong
FILMMAKING
Winner
Perfection – Mario Reyes
Runner-Up
Still Here – Maria Gotta
MULTIMEDIA
Winner
I Am Here – Porsche Veu
Runner-Up
Eve – Meghann Plunkett
Congratulations to all finalists and winners!
The 2023 Chapbook Contest is open NOW – January 8th, 2024

Five Reasons You Should Submit to Our Chapbook Contest

Knowing when and where to spend the energy submitting your creative work can be difficult. Maybe you’ve already hit your rejection-capacity for the month and one more “we regret to inform you” will send you to the wilderness for a hermitage away from the publishing game. Before you pack your bags, hear us out.

1. If you win, you’ll receive publication, 50 free author copies, and a $500 honorarium. We get it, $500 isn’t the jackpot, but we’ve got an excellent team that’s thrilled to market your book. No joke—if you follow us on social media, you’re likely either impressed or annoyed by how often our books pop up on your feed.

2. You get the chance to join a community of incredible writers dating back to 2012, when the contest started. Imagine it: your book wedged on a shelf between past winners such as Danez Smith and Akosua Zimba Afiriyie-Hwedie.

3. Even if your manuscript isn’t selected, you will have prepared and—hopefully—polished a collection of poems. Which is to say, you’ll get to experience the pat on the back that comes with finishing a body of work. And even better: provide proof to the skeptical family members that yes, you are doing something.

4. This is a contest for creatives, judged by creatives. We know how much time and attention goes into the process and will handle your manuscript with care equivalent to a neurosurgeon doing neurosurgeon things.

5. Our taste is not highly particularized—all topics and styles are welcome. If we had to name it, we value poetry with energy, voice and force, work that crosses borders or effaces them completely, work that enters into larger social conversations, work that lives in the world, work with calloused hands and a half-empty stomach. Poetry is and ought to be part of our everyday lives and culture.

Thank you for sharing your poetry with us. Best of luck.

The 2021 Chapbook Contest deadline has been extended until January 17th, 2022. Don’t wait until next year.

ENTER YOUR MANUSCRIPT HERE

WOWPS 2014

Button Poetry traveled to Austin, TX to capture the 2014 Women of the World Poetry Slam. Click here to see video from the festival!

From the official WOWPS website:

WOWPS is a four day poetry festival, in which 72 of the best female poets in the world compete against each other in order to crown the Women of the World Poetry Slam champion. Each of the competitors at WOWPS is a slam champion at her home venue, having defeated everyone else in order to clinch a spot at WOWPS.

In addition to the competition, each day of the festival features poetry workshops, themed open mics, special nighttime events, and parties. All events are open to the public and free with a festival pass. Some daytime events will also be free to the general public, with or without a pass.

When: March 19 – March 22, 2014
Where: Austin, TX

Get more festival information at the official site.

General questions about the WOWPS event? Email: info@wow.poetryslam.com

Questions about competing or participating in WOWPS? Contact our executive directory.

Competition at WOWPS is limited to poets who live their lives as women. All competing poets must be individual members of Poetry Slam, Inc.

CUPSI 2014

In March of 2014, Button Poetry traveled to the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational in Boulder, Colorado to capture video of dozens of poets. We believe that documenting the voices of our art form–especially these rising stars–plays a vital role in the growth and innovation of poetry. The videos are available on our YouTube page.

VIRAL E-Book Special Preview

Only two days until the release of Button’s first eBook! VIRAL features new and classic work from Lily Myers, Neil Hilborn, Javon Johnson, Rachel Rostad, Dylan Garity, Guante and Pages Matam. Today, we wanted to offer everyone a sneak preview of the book, with the foreword from Button Head Editor Michael Mlekoday. We might just be turning into a couple of softies, but we actually teared up reading this for the first time (and, you know, again right now).

-Sam & Dylan

Click here to read the foreword

VIRAL Poems Cover

CUPSI 2013

In April of 2013, Button Poetry traveled to the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational to capture video of dozens of poets. We believe that documenting the voices of our art form–especially these rising stars–plays a vital role in the growth and innovation of poetry. The videos are available on our YouTube page.