Bennett Nieberg
Transpoetic Broadside Prize
The Bennett Nieberg Transpoetic Broadside Prize awards a single poem written by a trans poet who has yet to publish their first full-length book. The prize consists of $500, 10 limited edition letterpress broadsides of the winning poem, and a feature in Gasher Journal.
Bennett Nieberg (they/them) was a queer Jewish emerging poet pursuing their MFA at Virginia Commonwealth University at the time of their passing in 2021. Their work appears in journals such as Crabfat Magazine, New Delta Review, The Indianapolis Review, Entropy, Permafrost, Western Humanities Review, Pretty Owl, and Lunch Ticket, among others. They were the editor in chief of the journal What Are Birds? which hosted the original Transpoetic Broadside Prize. Gasher Press honors Bennett’s legacy of social justice and commitment to the literary community with the continuation of the Transpoetic Prize.
Photo credit: Rachel Lowe Photography
2023 Final Judge [sarah] Cavar
[sarah] Cavar is a PhD candidate, writer, and critically Mad transgender-about-town. They are editor-in-chief of Stone of Madness press, and their work can be found in CRAFT Literary, Split Lip Magazine, Electric Lit, and elsewhere. Cavar's debut novel, Failure to Comply, is forthcoming with featherproof books (2024). More at www.cavar.club, @cavarsarah on twitter, and at librarycard.substack.com.
2023 Guidelines:
Deadline to submit: August 2nd, 2023
Eligibility:
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This prize is reserved for writers who identify as a trans writer. This may include those who identify as non-binary, genderqueer, agender, trans-masc, trans-femme, bigender, two spirit, gender fluid, or intersex people.
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Writers cannot yet have published a full-length book of any genre (chapbooks and self-publishing okay).
Requirements:
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Submit ONLY 1 unpublished poem on any subject/theme with a brief author bio.
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Do not include any identifying information on the document of the poem.
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Limit one submission per writer. You may not edit your piece after its submission. Do not withdraw a submission in order to resubmit. We will disqualify all duplicate submissions.
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Simultaneous submissions are okay, but please withdraw your submission if it is accepted elsewhere.
Additional info:
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This contest is free to submit to.
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A list of semi-finalists, selected by members of Gasher's staff, will be forwarded to the final judge, [sarah] Cavar, for the selection of a winner and finalists.
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The winner and finalists will be announced in November 2023.
2022 Winner
Leo Gabriel Miller
for the poem "buzz cut baptism"
Selected by final judge Kayleb Rae Candrilli
About the poem judge Kayleb Rae Candrilli wrote:
The poet behind this poem knows what it takes to find the breath to live. The lines of “Buzz Cut Baptism” are airy with careful caesura, yet heavy with images like “strangled with nylon”, and “summer sinks its teeth into us like ripe fruit”. In the world of this poem, and the world we live in, queerness is both pulpy and palpable, found in: ‘featherlight, dandelion fuzz, and gender unfurling like a fiddlehead.’ Poems like this, poets like this, are our only hope. This poet wrangles “the wasp’s nest on the veranda,” and fights for the vitality of every queer in the world.
Leo Gabriel Miller is a transmasculine youth poet and visual artist born and raised in Washington State. His work primarily deals with themes of gender, religion, familial relationships, and the intricate connections between the three. In addition to poetry, he does painting, printmaking, and ceramics, and plays guitar.
Finalist
E. Hughes - “Dyke Behavior”
Nico Wilkinson - “a spiritual experience, turned medical, becomes spiritual again”
Semifinalist
Dean Shinner - “Ruminations”
Brennan Bogert - “There are no women and there are no men”
Rachel Selby - “A letter regarding salamanders and the dispute over control of the inside of my mouth”
Dez Levier - “DEAD GIRL WALKING”
Ky Lohrenz - “Phantom Limb”
Paxton Grey - “sunlight falling across a void”
Suzannah “Su” Van Gelder - “breaking a thing”
Longlist
Skye Cowley - “Salinity”
Avery Yoder-Wells - “Thick of Things”
Sabrina Bank Joergensen - “Soiled Shoe, Her Saintly Attire”
BEE LB - “a body / a place / holding / no memory”
Leah Juliett - “SAINT SLUT”
Nicole McCaffety - “A Sky Like Yours”
Abigail Goodhart - “Cowboys”
G.J. Sanford - “Sestina with Marilyn’s gold pumps”
Annette Covrigaru - “Self Portrait as Top Surgery Scars”
Gabriel Noel - “ELEGY FOR MY DEADNAME (A PASTORAL)”
Eliot Cetta - "I Only Want to Stay for a New Reason"
Sage - "The Difference Between A Dream & Dreaming"
Scoot Swain - "Where in your body are you?"
Charlie Shaw - "survivor's guilt"
Cass Garison - "On Figure Drawing an Ex-Love