Beloit Poetry Journal

The Beloit Poetry Journal has published continuously since 1950, making it one of the oldest poetry-only journals in America, and its independence — it has never been owned by a university — is central to its identity. Its editors famously read every submission collectively, and its record of early publication includes Galway Kinnell, Maxine Kumin, A.R. Ammons, and Sherman Alexie.

The journal awards the annual Chad Walsh Poetry Prize ($4,000 at last posting) to the strongest poem it published that year — no entry, no fee, just publication. Submissions are free, read year-round in rolling batches, and the journal remains a model of the small, serious, all-volunteer operation.