Submissions to the San Diego Poetry Annual
WHEN TO SUBMIT:
June 15 to October 15 each year.
WHERE TO SUBMIT:
SUBMIT TO ONLY ONE REGIONAL EDITOR — submitting to more than one Regional Editor may result in disqualification.
Brandon Cesmat — profebc@aol.com
Karla Cordero — karla.cordero20@gmail.com
Seretta Martin — serettamartin@gmail.com
Jim Moreno — jimpoet@hotmail.com
Robt O’Sullivan Schleith — poetryscenestealers@yahoo.com
Ron Salisbury — barkandbite2@gmail.com
Jeff Walt — jeffwalt@rocketmail.com
Jon Wesick — jonwesick@gmail.com
Olga García – poetolga@gmail.com (for bilingual poems)
Veterans special section: BillieKai Boughton — boughton@sdsc.edu
Native Poets special section: Jim Moreno — jimpoet@hotmail.com
Kids! San Diego Poetry Annual: Rae Rose — raeroseksdpa@gmail.com or Ying Wu — yingchoon@gmail.com
Submissions sent directly to Garden Oak Press — gardenoakpress@gmail.com — will be forwarded to a Regional Editor for review.
HOW TO SUBMIT:
Submissions by e-mail only. Place ALL submitted poems in a single attachment to your e-mail. Please use “.doc” or “.docx” format. (Open Document Text — .odt — may also be used.)
- Do NOT paste the poems into the body of the e-mail, as this may cause incorrect formatting/line breaks.
- Do NOT send each poem as an individual attachment, as this may cause some poems to be lost or attributed to another poet.
- Include a short (50 words) biography as part of your e-mail attachment.
WHAT TO SUBMIT:
New, previously unpublished work ONLY.
- Poets are encouraged to send shorter work so that more poets can be included in the anthology. However, there are NO restrictions on length and NO taboos.
- The dual goals of the San Diego Poetry Annual are excellence and the celebration of diversity within our region.
HOW MANY POEMS CAN BE SUBMITTED?
Poets can submit up to three (3) poems for consideration.
- No simultaneous submissions: please do not submit poems currently submitted to any other publication.
- Our current practice is to publish only one poem from each contributing poet, but in rare circusmtances, more than one poem per poet may be accepted.
WHO CAN SUBMIT?
Submissions are open to all who live, work, reside, go to school in or visit the San Diego area, or those who have relatives, friends or another association with our region.
IS THERE A THEME?
No theme, no subject matter restrictions. (Poems do not have be about the San Diego region.)
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
Poets are never charged a fee of any sort.
No poet is ever required to buy a copy of the annual, but copies will be made available to contributing poets at a special price, discounted to actual cost. The Publisher (Garden Oak Press) makes no profit on these sales to contributing poets. (See How to Order)
HOW MUCH DOES IT PAY?
Contributing Poets receive a complimentary PDF of the annual, available on this website for viewing and downloading. There is no cash payment.
All volumes of the SDPA are sponsored by the San Diego Entertainment + Arts Guild, a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
The annual takes only the first right of publication. Following our publication, the poet retains full copyright ownership and control of his/her poem(s).
All poems are typeset, formatted and conformed to our style.
- Instead of providing free printed copies to contributing poets, printed copies are donated in the name of contributing poets to college, university and public libraries throughout San Diego County to ensure the permanence of the annual.
- As a result, the San Diego Poetry Annual is part of the permanent collections of every college and university library in San Diego County, the county library system, the San Diego City Library system, and the libraries of independent cities within the county, including Oceanside, Escondido, Carlsbad, Chula Vista and National City, so that future generations of readers will be able to access the San Diego Poetry Annual.
WHEN WILL THE NEW ANNUAL BE PUBLISHED?
The annual is published March 1st of each calendar year. Celebratory readings from the new annual begin in March.
HOW WILL I KNOW IF MY WORK HAS BEEN ACCEPTED?
Poets whose work is accepted for publication are informed by e-mail and/or through the listing of their names and poems on this website. The e-mails are sent by Regional Editors from October through February. The listing of poets and poems appears in late January or early February each year.
WHERE CAN I BUY A COPY OF THE ANNUAL?
All editions of the San Diego Poetry Annual can also be purchased online at amazon.com.
- The new annual is also available online from barnesandnoble.com and powells.com, and can be ordered through any bookstore via Ingram Books.
- Limited copies of new editions are available at Bluestocking Books, 3817 Fifth Ave., San Diego, CA 92103 (619) 296-1424.
QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?
E-mail Garden Oak Press at gardenoakpress@gmail.com.
San Diego Poetry Annual 
On your website, I don’t fiind any instructions how to submit for the next volume
after 2013=14, which is being published March 2014. My email address is:
grafola@san.rr.com, for any reply Also, are poems written in 2007 eligible
for consideration? Is Brandon Cesmat the regional editor for Del Mar=north
San Diego? Please publish email addresses for regiional editors. Thank you.
.
Visit “How to Submit” page for e-mail contact information of Regional Editors.
Hello, I would like information on your next poetry submission dates.
Thank you,
Victor Pena
June 15 to October 15 every year. Submit to any Regional Editor (but only one of them) or directly to gardenoakpress@gmail.com.
Dear Sir,
I am happy to read San Diego Poetry Annual 2010-11 getting it issued fron Chula Vista library- really a nice work published by you. I live in Chula Vista 91915, ca . Being a poet, i want to submit my poems fro next annual and will send you before 15 Oct date.
thanking you
Mohinderdeep Grewal
phone 858-779-9758
Looking forward to seeing your work.
Bill Harding, publisher
Dear Mr. Harding and editors, Okay so we’ve all been doing this for years, isn’t it about time to Think about a themed issue? Say, about, maybe sorta kinda about San Diego? Just saying. Thanks for all the hard WORK, even if its a labor of unrequited love. Terry S.
Hi, Majid,
We don’t publish poems in Arabic. Our bilingual volume publishes poems written in Spanish and translated into English.
If you don’t personally know any Regional Editor, you can read their work in any edition to the annual — find those in public libraries throughout San Diego. If that doesn’t suggest which one you should submit your work to, you can send it directly to the Publisher at gardenoakpress@gmail.com and your submissions will be forwarded to a Regional Editor whom the Publisher thinks might have an empathy with your poetry.
I’m a “seasoned” poet but new to this contest. Please tell me if the “Kids!” Contest is BY children or FOR children. Also, if it is FOR kids may I submit another poem for adults? I heard about this on KPBS and I’m excited to participate. I wish I’d known about it years ago. Penelope Fox, educator, author of Daisy in a Gun Barrel – the 1960s.
The Kids! San Diego Poetry Annual features poems by preteens only, created in free workshops led by our poet-teachers. Visit ksdpa.com for full details.
The SDPA is open to poets who have a connection to San Diego — even if they only visited it once. There is no submission or reading fee.
The Steve Kowit Poetry Prize is open to any poet, anywhere. It carries a nominal entry fee ($15 per poem) and offers $1350 in cash prizes annually. Entries are made via Submittable.com.
All of these are sponsored by the local arts non-profit San Diego Entertainment + Arts Guild (SDEAG). Visit sdeag.org for details.
Thanks — and we’ll look forward to seeing your new work.
[…] your poetry in the San Diego Poetry Annual. Submissions open until Oct. 15. Click here for guidelines. The window for the $1,000 Steve Kowit Poetry Prize also closes Oct. 15: […]
How does one become a regional editor?
Regional Editors are selected by the Publisher.
Regional Editors of the SDPA are selected by the Executive Staff — Publisher, Associate Publisher.
Wow. Thank you for being incredible.
I really like your protocol, which is none at all.
I’m glad I found you, and I am looking forward to diving in. I had just dipped a toe in, read your page, and I had to write to you before I explore your site some more.
I hope you’re enjoying the day.
Thanks again,
Louis Lee Palmetti