Nomination Guidelines
As part of our pledge to transparency, we are making our intended guidelines for nominations available as we work to bring Tandem Reader Awards to life. We will update our guidelines with the proper submission dates and mailing address when we officially open the awards for nominations.
Right now, TRA is offering early-bird nominations through our fundraiser. We will open for fee-free nominations at the end of our campaign.
If you feel your question is not answered by our Q&A below, please get in touch with us at TandemReaderAwards [at] gmail [dot] com.
How to Nominate a Chapbook for the Tandem Reader Awards
Mail nominations to:
Tandem Reader Awards
PO Box (forthcoming)
Include the author’s and/or editor’s contact email, along with the chapbook title and author name, on a separate piece of paper. Please do not write this information in the chapbook.
Submissions must be postmarked by (date forthcoming) to be eligible for the 2016 Tandem Reader Awards.
We will be notifying finalists and winners by email. To be eligible for our award, we must be able to reach either the editor or author by email.
This is a temporary PO Box for 2016. Please do not mail any material past our (date forthcoming) deadline.
Close friends, colleagues, and family members of the guest judge are ineligible for this year’s award.
Q & A
Q. If I win the Tandem Reader Award, how will I be compensated?
A. We will award the writer and editor of the winning chapbook with a cash prize. Payment will be determined by the amount of donations we receive. This amount will be announced at the end of our fundraiser.
Q. What kind of chapbooks are eligible?
A. Both handbound and perfect bound chapbooks published or translated into English are eligible. We are accepting chapbooks of poetry, prose, and hybrid forms. Chapbooks by single and multi-authors are fine, but anthologies are not eligible. We are also not accepting zines at this time. This is an award for print books only.
Q. Can I submit an e-chapbook?
A. No. This award is for print books.
Q. The chapbook I want to submit is out of print or not currently for sale, can I nominate it?
A. If you have a physical copy to nominate and mail in, yes!
Q. I don’t have a permanent mailing address, can I enter the contest?
A. Yes! All we need is a contact email.
Q. I have a chapbook but cannot afford to mail it. Can I get assistance?
A. We want to make sure everyone can submit. Please contact us at TandemReaderAwards [at] gmail [dot] com. Depending on our funds, we may or may not be able to sponsor you ourselves. If not, we will try to find a sponsor for you.
Q. Can I nominate someone else’s chapbook?
A. First THANK YOU for being an awesome literary citizen. YES! Enthusiastically, yes, you may mail in someone else’s chapbook for nomination. If you would like to do so anonymously, please indicate so, otherwise, when we list the nomination here, we’ll include your name—you awesome person, you!
Q. I’d like to nominate a chapbook, but my copy is used, can I submit it?
A. Yes, if markings inside the book are minimal.
Q. How can I tell which books have been nominated?
A. We will list nominated books, by publisher, here as we receive them. Feel free to check our list before mailing your nomination(s).
Q. How can I tell if you received my nomination?
A. We will list nominated books, by publisher, here as we receive them. Please allow two weeks from the time you mail your nomination(s) before querying us at TandemReaderAwards [at] gmail [dot] com.
Q. How do I make a donation with my nomination?
A. If you would like to make a donation to the Tandem Reader Awards with your submission, please make a check or money order to:
Tandem Reader Awards
PO Box (forthcoming)
You can also make a donation through PayPal:
Your donation will go towards developing and maintaining a fee-free, accessible award. We will add your name to our list of sponsors during this year’s awards unless you state that you would like your donation to remain anonymous.
Q. I am both the author and the editor of my chapbook, can I submit it?
A. Yes, provided that your publisher has at least two other books published by other authors available for purchase. (Yes, you can also be the publisher.)
Q. Can a non-American win the Tandem Reader Award?
A. Sure, why not? Send us your international nominations. But we’ll be paying you in USD.
Q. If my chapbook doesn’t win, can you mail it back?
A. The winning chapbook and finalists will be mailed to Firefly Farms for inclusion in the Sundress Academy for the Arts (SAFTA) library to be enjoyed by future residents. For more about Firefly Farms, SAFTA, and residencies on the farm, please visit sundresspublications.com/safta.
Remaining chapbooks* will be sold during our 2017 Tandem Reader Awards fundraiser to continue to keep submissions fee-free.
*We reserve the right to discard submissions with messages that are bigoted, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, sexist, and/or threatening.