The Joy Bale Boone Poetry Prize

Submit 1-3 poems of any form or style for $10 in a Word document through Submittable (link on website). No pdfs. Include a cover letter in the same file. Simultaneous submissions accepted, but withdrawing 1 poem means withdrawing all.

Finalists (about 20) who provide a United States Postal Address (international writers often use friends and their Consulate’s office address) will receive a free copy of the Spring 2024 issue of The Heartland Review wherein winners and finalists will be published. The Heartland Review is available on Amazon. Please read the submission guidelines on our new website.

Joy Bale Boone (1912-2002) was an American poet best known for her devotion to the arts. Born in Chicago, where she received inspiration from poet Harriet Monroe, Boone spent most of her life in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. She was active in the women’s liberation movement, having formed the League of Women Voters in Hardin County, KY in 1944. Throughout her life, she served on numerous committees and boards in hopes that more people would have the opportunity to experience the arts in the way that she had. Her most significant work was The Storm’s Eye: A Narrative in Verse Celebrating Cassius Marcellus Clay, Man of Freedom 1810–1903. She served as Kentucky’s Poet Laureate from 1997-1998.

We are keen to encourage quality submissions, so suggest writers to check their stories before submitting using Prowritingaid. They have free and paid versions and are the best writing software we know to help improve grammar, readability and check for repetition, ‘sticky’ sentences and suggest alternatives.