Thank you for submitting to Hole In The Head Review.

We review submissions of poetry, prose poetry, and visual art twice a year: 

​December 1st to January 1st for the Spring Issue

June 1st to July 1st for the Fall Issue

We're committed to publishing the best contemporary poetry and visual art. We publish emerging and established artists and writers. We'll respond within 45 days.

All regular issue submissions should include:

• A brief 3rd person bio, 100 words or fewer
• Links to your websites or social media

If you submit in more than one category, for example, Poetry and Prose Poems, please be sure to separate your submissions. We will only consider work in the category for which it is submitted. Only one submission per category per submission period, please. 

We do not accept submissions using Generative Text AI at any stage of the process. 

Hole In The Head Review assumes First Electronic/Online Rights. All rights revert to the author or artist upon publication. If you republish your work in a collection, please credit Hole In The Head Review for the first publication.

 Poetry:

Please send up to three previously unpublished poems during a submission period. Upload them as a single file, no more than one poem per page. We accept simultaneous submissions; please inform us immediately via Submittable if you need to withdraw part of your submission. Submissions for poetry cap at 175 per reading period.

 Prose Poetry: 

From Jefferson Navicky, Prose Poetry Editor: "I am looking for prose poems that help us define and redefine what a prose poem is and can be. Show me your cast-iron airplanes that can fly, show me your chunky buckets, your jewel boxes, your charming paragraphs longing to be poems, show me the incidental, the thunderstruck, the syntactically impossible or only possible in the world of your prose poem. That is the world I want to live in."

Send up to three prose poems in one document. Please remove all identifiers: submissions will be read blind. Send your submission early. We suspect we will fill up quickly. Submissions for prose poems cap at 50 per reading period.

 Visual Art:​

We currently publish one to two pieces of cover art per issue. Please submit no more than three images, no smaller than 5"x7". If you can set the resolution, use 72 pixels per inch. Submissions for visual art cap at 25 per reading period. 

If you have questions, please email Mike Bove: editor@holeintheheadreview.com

The Charles Simic Poetry Prize 

The Charles Simic Poetry Prize is awarded annually to a single poem of exceptional vision and quality. It is judged by a poet of note each year. 

• One winner receives $1000 and publication in the spring issue.
• One Editor's Choice receives $200, memorabilia signed by Charles Simic, and publication in the spring issue.
• Three finalists receive regular payment and publication in the spring issue.

​

The Charles Simic Poetry Prize is open for submissions from November 1 to December 1.

• Please submit a single, previously unpublished poem in any style and any length. One submission per poet. 
• Submissions are read blind; please do not include any identifying material in your submission file. 
• Former students of a judge may not submit.
• Submission cap is 200.
• Submission fee is $15.00. Fees are used to pay contributors, web fees, and organization member fees. The editorial staff is unpaid and the journal does not turn a profit. 
• 25 of the 200 submissions are free and first come, first served. We ask that these free submissions be reserved for poets in financial need. 

We follow CLMP's Contest Code of Ethics:

We believe that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. Intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree

• to conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors;
• to provide clear and specific contest guidelines—defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and
• to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public.

This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.