LEATHA KENDRICK NAMED JUDGE
OF 5TH ANNUAL ANNETTE ALLEN POETRY PRIZE
Leatha Kendrick
SUBMISSIONS OPEN OCTOBER 1 THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2026 - FREE TO ENTER
First prize $200 + publication of a previously unpublished poem in The Louisville Review. Two Finalists receive $50 each. Open to all university and college students residing in the Louisville, Kentucky Metro area, including southern Indiana, graduate and undergraduate, in all departments and programs. Students enrolled in remote courses at universities outside the area but living in Louisville / southern Indiana are eligible, as are students enrolled at IU Southeast and Ivy Tech Community College, Sellersburg.
Students from all disciplines are encouraged to enter. We enthusiastically welcome entries from writers of all backgrounds, abilities, and identities, including minority, indigenous, and LGBTQ+ writers. We value poetry that draws on diverse perspectives, and we welcome poetry in a variety of registers, modes, and styles. Judge reads all submissions blind, and each poem is judged entirely on its own merit.
JUDGE LEATHA KENDRICK
is the author of the poetry collections Interior with Poplar (2026), And Luckier (2020), and four others. Over the past thirty years her poems, essays, articles, fiction, and memoir in journals, including Tar River Poetry, New Madrid Review, Appalachian Review, and the Southern Poetry Review, and anthologies such as The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume 3; I to I—Life Writing by Kentucky Feminists; and What Comes Down to Us – Twenty-Five Contemporary Kentucky Poets. In addition to teaching creative writing at the University of Kentucky and in Morehead State University’s graduate program, she has served as writer-in-residence, mentor, and workshop leader at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning for over twenty-five years. Kendrick is the recipient of multiple awards and fellowships, including the 2013 Sallie Bingham Award from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and Transylvania University’s 2025 Judy Gaines Young Book Award.
is the author of the poetry collections Interior with Poplar (2026), And Luckier (2020), and four others. Over the past thirty years her poems, essays, articles, fiction, and memoir in journals, including Tar River Poetry, New Madrid Review, Appalachian Review, and the Southern Poetry Review, and anthologies such as The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume 3; I to I—Life Writing by Kentucky Feminists; and What Comes Down to Us – Twenty-Five Contemporary Kentucky Poets. In addition to teaching creative writing at the University of Kentucky and in Morehead State University’s graduate program, she has served as writer-in-residence, mentor, and workshop leader at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning for over twenty-five years. Kendrick is the recipient of multiple awards and fellowships, including the 2013 Sallie Bingham Award from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and Transylvania University’s 2025 Judy Gaines Young Book Award.
The Annette Allen Poetry Prize is funded by family and friends of Annette Allen and alumni of the Humanities PhD Program at the University of Louisville.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
• Open to all university and college students residing in the Louisville, Kentucky Metro area, including Southern Indiana, graduate and undergraduate, in all departments and programs.
• One Winner receives a cash prize of $200 and publication of their winning poem in The Louisville Review.
• Two Finalists receive cash prizes of $50.
• Two Honorable Mentions will receive a copy of Allen’s poetry collection, The Cruel Radiance of What Is (2019).
• All awarded writers will read at the Annette Allen Poetry Prize Celebration Reading at the 54th Annual Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture at the University of Louisville, in February, 2027 (date TBD).
• Students may submit one manuscript containing 1-5 previously unpublished poems.
• Students from all disciplines are encouraged to write and submit poems—no prior poetry experience is required!
• Students are encouraged to submit poetry that engages the arts and/or humanities. Such poems might incorporate reflections on or, descriptions of, visual art, music, literature, ecology, environment, identity, gender, history, dance, myth, philosophical texts, etc.
• We enthusiastically welcome submissions from writers of all backgrounds, abilities, and identities, including minority, indigenous, and LGBTQ+ writers. We value poetry that draws on diverse perspectives, and we welcome poetry in a variety of registers, modes, and styles.
• Judge reads all submissions blind. Entries are evaluated solely on the quality of the work submitted.
• Notifications will be sent to all entrants at the beginning of the spring 2027 semester.
• All submissions thought Submittable only (Submittable is 100% free to use).
• We do not accept submissions containing any content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) tools. AI-generated or augmented manuscripts are ineligible.
THE ANNETTE ALLEN POETRY PRIZE
was established in 2021 in honor of the late Dr. Annette Allen. Allen was instrumental in founding the Humanities PhD Program at the University of Louisville in 2002 and was a beloved mentor who advised numerous graduate theses and dissertations in many fields, most notably in creative writing. A poet as well as an academic, Dr. Allen published widely in poetry anthologies and literary journals, including The Louisville Review, and authored three books of poems. Allen’s highly interdisciplinary poetry, which frequently engaged the arts and humanities, serves as inspiration for this award.
was established in 2021 in honor of the late Dr. Annette Allen. Allen was instrumental in founding the Humanities PhD Program at the University of Louisville in 2002 and was a beloved mentor who advised numerous graduate theses and dissertations in many fields, most notably in creative writing. A poet as well as an academic, Dr. Allen published widely in poetry anthologies and literary journals, including The Louisville Review, and authored three books of poems. Allen’s highly interdisciplinary poetry, which frequently engaged the arts and humanities, serves as inspiration for this award.
The Louisville Review has published a poem by the winning student writer in our pages and served as an organizing partner of the the Annette Allen Poetry Prize since it was established in 2021 by a committee of graduate students and alumni of the doctoral program in Humanities at the University of Louisville, Lynda Mercer, Flora K. Schildknecht, Robert Eric Shoemaker, and Diana Wilder.
The full adoption of the Annette Allen Poetry Prize by The Louisville Review ensures that the prize will continue annually. Institutional partners at The University of Louisville include The Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture, the Writing Center, and the Women’s Center.
Visit annetteallenpoetryprize.org to learn more about the history of the Annette Allen Poetry Prize, view photos from the readings, and read a sample of Annette Allen’s poetry.
