The 2024 Zócalo Poetry Prize Recognizes Poems About Place

No-Fee Contest Submissions Accepted November 2023–January 2024

Since 2012, the Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize has recognized the U.S. writer of a poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo will begin accepting submissions on November 20, 2023. The deadline for entries is January 22, 2024, at 11:59 PM PST. There is no fee required to enter the contest, and we accept simultaneous submissions.

We are on the lookout for that rare combination of creativity and clarity, excellence and evocation. The prize interprets “place” in many ways: A location may possess historical, cultural, political, or personal importance, …

September 8, 2023

Paige Buffington Wins the 2023 Zócalo Poetry Prize

Home Is the Navajo Nation in ‘From 20 Miles Outside of Gallup, Holbrook, Winslow, Farmington, or Albuquerque’—A Place That Pushes and Pulls Its People

Interview by Sarah Rothbard | April 7, 2023

Paige Buffington is the winner of the 12th annual Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize for “From 20 Miles Outside of Gallup, Holbrook, Winslow, Farmington, or Albuquerque.” Her prose poem evokes …

Los Angeles Will Always Be a Character in My Story

For Three Generations, a Writer’s Family Has Lived and Loved in the City of Angels

by Daniel Olivas | November 9, 2022

It took until the cusp of middle age—the ripe age of 39—for me to write what would become my first book.

The spark for this new stage of my life was …

The 2023 Zócalo Poetry Prize Celebrates Poems of Place

No-Fee Contest Submissions Accepted November 2022–January 2023

September 8, 2022

Since 2012, the Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize has recognized the U.S. writer of a poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo is currently accepting submissions. The deadline …

Chelsea Rathburn Wins the 2022 Zócalo Poetry Prize

The Georgia Poet Laureate’s ‘8 a.m., Ocean Drive’ Captures an Early Morning in Miami, Where She Is Neither Tourist Nor Citizen

Interview by Sarah Rothbard | April 25, 2022

Chelsea Rathburn is the 11th annual winner of the Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize for “8 a.m., Ocean Drive,” which brings us to the streets of Miami’s South Beach in …

The 2022 Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize Explores Place

Since 2012, We’ve Honored Works That Visit Landscapes Both Real and Imagined

September 16, 2021

Since 2012, the Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize has recognized the U.S. writer of a poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo is now accepting submissions for our …

Get More Zócalo