FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 14, 2000 #297
Contact: Heather Haas
(816) 235-1601*
haash@umkc.edu
 

BkMk Press Seeks Submissions for the John Ciardi Prize for Poetry Award provides publishing opportunity for winning manuscript

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- BkMk (Bookmark) Press at the University of Missouri-Kansas City is accepting submissions for its second biennial John Ciardi Prize for Poetry. The prize includes a $1,000 cash award and publication of the winning manuscript by BkMk Press. The postmark deadline for submissions is Oct. 16, 2000.

To be eligible, manuscripts must be written in English (translations are not eligible) by an author who is living. Manuscripts should be book-length collections of poetry, preferably between 48-96 pages. Authors should leave their name off of the manuscript but should include a separate title page with their name and contact information. Preliminary judging will be conducted by a network of published poets. The final judging will be performed by a nationally renowned poet. The contest reading fee is $20.

For full guidelines, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the John Ciardi Poetry Prize, BkMk Press, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 5101 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO 64110. Guidelines also can be requested by phone at (816) 235-2558*, (816) 235-2611 or by e-mail at bkmk@umkc.edu.

BkMk Press founded the John Ciardi Poetry Prize to honor the memory of John Ciardi, who taught at UMKC (then the University of Kansas City) in the 1940s. Ciardi became a nationally recognized figure in poetry and the world of letters for such achievements as his translation of Dante's Inferno, as an editor for The Saturday

Review and as a commentator for National Public Radio. BkMk Press published Ciardi's final book of poems, Stations of the Air, in 1993 after his death.

The first Ciardi Prize winner was Steve Gehrke, author of The Resurrection Machine. The manuscript was selected by Miller Williams, director emeritus of the University of Arkansas Press, and published by BkMk Press earlier this year. Gehrke, 28, is a fellow at the James Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas-Austin. The Resurrection Machine is his first book.

Contest entrants may order a copy of Stations of the Air for an additional $5 postage paid at the time they submit their contest fee and a copy of The Resurrection Machine for an extra $10.

BkMk Press was founded in 1971 and became a part of UMKC in 1983. It receives support from the Missouri Arts Council, UMKC, and private donations.

* Individuals with speech or hearing impairments may call Relay Missouri at (800) 735-2966 (TT) or (800) 735-2466 (voice).

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