FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[GREENVILLE, NC]
The James Applewhite Poetry Prize competition invites submissions from North Carolina writers (anyone who has lived or currently lives in North Carolina). A one-year subscription to the North Carolina Literary Review is required to submit one to three poems, and a two-year subscription or membership in the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association is required to submit four to five poems. The James Applewhite Poetry Prize winner will receive $250, publication in the North Carolina Literary Review, and a Pushcart Prize nomination. Submissions are due by April 30, 2025. For more information on eligibility and submission instructions, visit https://nclr.ecu.edu/submissions/applewhite-guidelines/.
The competition’s final judge for 2025 is Joseph Bathanti, former Poet Laureate of North Carolina and a highly respected figure in both the literary and academic worlds. Bathanti is a Professor at Appalachian State University and has received numerous accolades, including The Order of the Long Leaf Pine and the North Carolina Award in Literature. He is a 3-time winner of the Roanoke-Chowan Award for his books Light at the Seam, Concertina, and Restoring Sacred Heart. Bathanti has also been an editor of The Anthology of Black Mountain College Poetry and Crossing the Rift: North Carolina Poets on 9/11 & Its Aftermath. Read more about him at Joseph Bathanti | Department of English.
Also open for submissions is the Jaki Shelton Green Performance Poetry Prize. Submissions are open to all North Carolina writers (anyone who has lived or currently lives in North Carolina). This competition is dedicated to performance poetry, and submissions will be considered only from poets who are either subscribed to NCLR or members of the North Carolina Poetry Society. Poets who are both can submit two performance video recordings. The winner of the Jaki Shelton Green Performance Poetry Prize will receive $250 and have their performance featured on NCLR’s YouTube channel and shared in the NCLR Online Fall issue. Submissions are due by April 30, 2025. For more information on eligibility and submission guidelines, visit https://nclr.ecu.edu/submissions/green-guidelines/.
The 2025 final judge is El’Ja Bowens, a renowned author, poet, and performance artist. He is the co-founder and director of the Southeastern Regional NC Poetry Festival and has performed at major festivals including the National Folk Festival and Big Ears Festival. He is a featured poet on Poetry Slam Inc and All Def Poetry on YouTube. Bowens is the author of El’J Dilla, Black Out, and Blerd Lines. Read more about him at Poetry-N-Motion, LLC.
Produced since 1992 at East Carolina University, and published by the University of North Carolina Press, the North Carolina Literary Review has won numerous awards and citations. The mission of NCLR is to preserve and promote North Carolina’s rich literary culture. NCLR introduces new and emerging writers; reintroduces forgotten authors; showcases work in literary criticism, interviews, book reviews, fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry; and reports on the state’s literary news. Artwork used by exclusively North Carolina artists.