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© After Hours Press 2026, Elmwood Park, IL

CONTEST GUIDELINES FOR 2025     

After Hours has published two-issues per year consistently since June of 2000.  We are wholly independent without any outside source of funding.  We value our independence and want to continue without influence or oversight.  As is common with many literary journals who sponsor prizes and competitions, we will require an entry fee for this competition.  Your $15 entry fee will primarily fund our prizes but will also help to support the cost of publishing, postage and the overall long-term future of After Hours. 

1) $15 entry fee.  Payment made through PayPal must be confirmed before submissions will be considered.  Payment link.  You can use a credit card or your PayPal account.

2) One $200 Winner and three $50 Finalists will be selected in an anonymous review by After Hours editors with the final winning decisions made by our 2026 Judge, Ralph Hamilton.

3) Submissions will be accepted between now and  June 15, 2026.  Winners will be announced on July 15, 2026, and published in After Hours 2026 Summer Issue (released at the Chicago Printers Row Lit Fest, 2026).

4) All entries must be submitted via email to: poetryprize@afterhourspress.com.  Your last name followed by “Mary Blinn Prize” should be the subject of the email. Cover letter and poems should be combined in one file and emailed as a single attachment(.doc /.docx file types preferred). Your cover letter with contact information,75 word bio, and the names of the poems submitted are required. 

5) Open to writers, worldwide; poems must be written in English (translations accepted if translated by the author).  After Hours’ Summer Issue must be a potential first publication for all works submitted. No previously published works, or works accepted for publication elsewhere. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but we must be notified immediately if any poems are accepted elsewhere. 

6) No identifying personal or contact information should appear on any pages with poems. 

7) A cover letter with contact information,75 word bio, and the names of the poems submitted are required.

8) Entry fees are non-refundable. Send up to four poems per entry. There is no line-limit. Poems may be any length, any style, or any subject. Multiple entries by a single poet are accepted, however each group of four poems must be treated as a separate entry, each with its own cover sheet and an additional $15 fee.

About our 2026 Judge, Ralph Hamilton   

Ralph Hamilton was editor of RHINO Poetry for 15 years. With an MFA in poetry from Bennington, his poems have appeared in Court Green, Cut Bank, Blackbird, the Ilanot Review, and elsewhere. He judged Fifth Wednesday Journal’s poetry prize in 2013 and served as FWJ‘s guest poetry editor in 2014.  He also co-edited the debut volume of Glass Lyre Press’s Aolian Harp Anthology.  His first book of poems, Teaching a Man to Unstick His Tail, was listed among the top 10 poetry books of 2015 by a committee of the American Library Association and was a finalist for the Lander literary award. In 2015 Ralph was also nominated for best new poets and a pushcart prize.