Gaudy Boy Poetry Book Prize

WE’VE INCREASED OUR PRIZE PURSE FROM USD1,000 to USD1,500!

The Gaudy Boy Poetry Book Prize is awarded annually to an unpublished manuscript of original Anglophone poetry by an author of Asian heritage residing anywhere in the world. The winner receives book publication and USD1,500.00.

Past winners were The Experiment of The Tropics by Lawrence Lacambra Ypil and Autobiography of Horse by Jenifer Sang Eun Park, selected by Wong May; Play for Time by Paula Mendoza, selected by Vijay Seshadri; and Object Permanence by Nica Bengzon, selected by Cyril Wong,; and Time Regime by Jhani Randhawa, selected by Dorothy Wang.

This year we’re honored to have Yeow Kai Chai as our prize judge. Yeow is a poet, fiction writer, and editor. He has three poetry collections, One to the Dark Tower Comes (2020), Pretend I’m Not Here (2006), and Secret Manta (2001). He has worked in the media, including as entertainment editor and music reviewer, in various publications such as The Straits Times, 8 Days and My Paper. He co-wrote The Adopted: Stories from Angkor (2015) and Lost Bodies: Poems Between Portugal and Home (2016), with three other authors. A co-editor of Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, he served as Festival Director of the Singapore Writers Festival from 2015 to 2018.

Five finalists will be announced in August 2022, and they will be invited to read their work at a finalists’ reading in September 2022, at which the prizewinner will be announced. The winning manuscript will be published in Spring 2023 by Gaudy Boy, an imprint of the NYC-based literary nonprofit Singapore Unbound.

Established in 2017, Gaudy Boy publishes poetry, fiction, and literary nonfiction of extraordinary merit by Asian voices. Our name is taken from the poem “Gaudy Turnout” by Singaporean poet Arthur Yap about his time abroad in 1970s Leeds, UK. From the Latin “gaudium,” meaning joy, Gaudy Boy seeks to delight our readers with the various powers of art.

Requirements

1. The contest is open to emerging and established poets.
2. No proof of Asian heritage is required. As writers ourselves, we go by honor between writers.
3. Submit a 70–120-page unpublished manuscript of original poetry in English. Please number the pages of your manuscript. Include a title page, table of contents, and an acknowledgments page for any previously published poems.
4. Email Jee Leong Koh at jkoh@singaporeunbound.org with a brief cover letter in the body of your email and the poetry manuscript attached in PDF or MSWord format.
5. Your name, mailing address, and email address should not appear anywhere in the manuscript. Instead, they should be given in your cover letter in the body of your email.
6. Submit your entry fee USD10.00 at PayPal to Jee Leong Koh (jkoh@singaporeunbound.org). We cannot consider your manuscript until we receive your entry fee. Your entry fee helps us defray some, but not all, of the editorial costs. We have set the entry fee low so that it will not be too much of a barrier for most people. If the fee is a barrier, please write to Jee at jkoh@singaporeunbound.org for a waiver. Entry fees are nonrefundable.
7. You may submit more than one manuscript, but a separate entry fee must accompany each manuscript.
8. You may submit the manuscript elsewhere simultaneously, but you must notify Gaudy Boy immediately if your manuscript is accepted by another publisher.