Better Than Starbucks Sonnet Contest 2020 / How To Apply (Prize: $500)

Submissions for Better Than starbucks Sonnet contest 2020, which happens to be the third annual sonnet contest are now open!

The deadline for submission is November 30th, 2020. Winners will be published February 1st, 2021.

 

 

Eligibility for Better Than Starbucks 2020 Sonnet Contest.

• It is an international contest for poets.
• Applicants must have Paypal accounts as payments shall be done via PayPal.
• No age limit has been set.
• This contest is not open to employees of Better Than Starbucks (or their family members.)

 

 

Submission Guidelines for 2020 Contest

 

• No entry fee is required.
• simultaneous Submissions are not acceptable.
• This contest is for a metrical sonnet.
• Your sonnet can be shakespearean, petrarchan, spenserian, rhymed, or slant-rhymed.
• Blank verse is fine, as long as the sonnet form is clearly identifiable.
• They willconsider tetrameter, hexameter, etc. as well as pentameter.
• Some metrical variation is fine, but don’t forget the volta!
• As always, they do accept previously published work. Please inform them of the publication details.
• If previously published, make sure you have the rights to it. Most publications do not keep the rights to poetry.
• The organizers of this award retain the right to use your submitted sonnets in anthologies or promotional material as they see fit in the future, but they do not retain any copyright to your work.

• Submit up to two sonnets.
• Please include your entry in the body of your email, put “Sonnet Contest” into the subject line of your email, and send to [email protected]
• Any possible loss of formatting in email transmission will be corrected if your sonnet is chosen as a winner or for publication, as you will be asked to proof before publication, but you are welcome to mention special formatting in your submission.
• Please include a third person bio of 30 (max 40) words.
• An introduction is welcome but not required.
• ​You will receive an acknowledgement of your entry within 24 hours. This is the only communication you will receive unless one or both of your sonnets are selected for publication, either as winners or honorable mentions, or for subsequent publication.
• Unlike general submissions to the journal, the organizers do not respond further to contest entries unless they are selected as winners, honorable mentions, or for subsequent publication.
• ​If you do not receive an acknowledgement then theydid not receive your entry. Check your spam folder if you have not already whitelisted Better Than Starbucks. Check the email address your entry was addressed to. Try again.
• ​​Entries are read blind. The poems alone are copied into reading files as they come in. Address your entry only to Better Than Starbucks editors.
• ​All entries are eligible for publication in Better Than Starbucks. By submitting your work you grant us the non-exclusive right to publish it. Copyright remains with the author/poet.

 

• Judges are Better Than Starbucks editors.

 

​

Prizes

• The sponsor of this contest wishes to remain anonymous.
• They are delighted to announce that one of their supporters (who wishes to remain anonymous) has added $250 to their First Prize total this year.
• As a result the First Prize will be $350 payable on publication.

 

Winning poets receive:

• First Place $350.
• Second Place $100.
• Third Place $50.

​​

Winners will be announced in January and published on February 1st, 2021.

They will also publish up to seven honorable mention sonnets.

 

Goodluck!