Submission Guidelines 

Yearling publishes unsolicited poetry, and poetry from our community of working writers, once a year in December. 

• Submissions are open year round and each submission receives feedback from our editors. 
• Yearling encourages simultaneous submissions for previously unpublished work. We do not consider sharing your poem on a blog, social media account, or online group as published. 
• If your work is accepted by another online or print publisher, journal, or magazine please withdraw your submission through Submittable.
• If you are withdrawing one or more poems from a group in a submission, you do not have to withdraw the entire submission, rather, notify us in a note through Submittable. 
• Contributors will receive 1 copy of the journal upon publication. We hope to be able to pay poets by the end of the third year of publication. 

Poems 

The poems that move us most are the poems that make us forget that we are reading a poem. We believe any style, tone, form, subject matter has that potential. At this time we print in text only in Yearling. 

For free feedback, please send us 1 poem at a time. If you’d like to send us more poems, we charge a fee to pay the editors who are providing feedback. It’s $10 to submit 3 poems. If you send multiple poems without paying, we will read the first one. Due to the volume of poems we receive, we ask that you only do a submission for free feedback once during a three month time frame.

The working poet is of particular importance to us. We define a working poet as a poet who doesn’t make their living from writing or the teaching of writing. Each issue will include 20 poets from our community of working writers and 20 poets from outside of that community, including those who happen to make their living from writing and teaching writing. 

If you are interested in joining our community, check us out here!

Response Time 

Yearling’s readers and editors are shooting for the quickest possible response time. Since we provide feedback to every submission, we cannot say for certain how long this will take. Poems accepted for publication do not receive feedback and acceptance letters will be sent out by Oct 1 of the year of submission.  

Feedback 

Aside from a chance to be published, Yearling provides poets who do not have access to a workshop or a community the opportunity to get feedback on their work. Please do not submit to us unless you are comfortable hearing constructive feedback on your work.  We value the time and energy you put into your work. Please be aware that we do not participate in an ongoing dialogue about a poem, but you are welcome to resubmit a piece as many times as you would like, as long as it is once within a three-month time frame.

Rights and Rules 

We require First Rights (the first publisher to publish these poems publicly). All rights revert to the authors upon publication. We also require Non-Exclusive Electronic Rights, so that we can share your poem through our digital platforms.

We welcome submissions from international authors but are unable to offer free shipping for copies heading outside of the domestic United States at this time.  

Our Team 

Managing Editor: Kevin Nance

Kevin is a photographer, arts journalist and poet in Lexington. He has published widely in newspapers and magazines including the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, and Poets & Writers. He also has work in many literary journals, including The North American Review, Poet Lore, Willawaw, Still: The Journal and Salvation South. His four books include the poetry collection SMOKE, published last year by Accents Publishing. 

Owner/Editor: Christopher McCurry 

Christopher McCurry is an award winning teacher and writer living in Lexington, KY. In 2015, he cofounded Workhorse, a publishing company and community for working writers. He’s the creator of The Poetry Gauntlet and the Young Writers Conference and lives in Lexington, KY with his wife, daughter, son, and two dogs. You can purchase his full-length collections Open Burning and The Gospel of God Boy from Accents Publishing. 

General Submission Guidelines

The Pegasus, in Greek mythology, symbolizes inspiration through poetry and freedom. To honor our namesake, Pegasus seeks to enrich the world of poetry by showcasing work that spans traditional sonnets to genre-defying, explorations. We strive to foster conversations through poetry and art that connect every facet of human experience through expansive ideas, culture, and a shared love of craft.

Pegasus uses Submittable to process submissions.

Artists are invited to submit 3–5 of their best works for consideration.

**We do not accept previously published artworks. We welcome simultaneous submissions, but if a poem/artwork is accepted elsewhere, please withdraw it from your submission with Pegasus .

Please include a brief bio in third person with your submission.

Special Section Submission Guidelines: Multilingual Poetry and Translation

We are thrilled that forthcoming editions of Pegasus will feature a special section of multilingual poetry and poetry in translation.

Some options of what we are looking for:

Multilingual poetry — poems that are at least 50% in a language other than English. Example: Duets by Zeina Hashem Beck 

Poetry in translation

Previously unpublished works OR poems without a published English version

Pieces that play with language and are not afraid to take linguistic risks; poems that create a “poetic third space” or “break language.” (Source: “Breaking English in Zeina Hashem Beck’s duet poems” ) 

See the General Submission Guidelines for the editorial team’s ideological and stylistic preferences.

Note: if you are translating the work of another poet, you must have and provide written permission for publication of the translations of their work.

We are not requiring translation of poems into English. If you choose to submit a poem without an English translation, we ask you provide a brief poet’s statement in English at the beginning of your piece. Feel free to take creative liberties here, but the idea is to tell the readers who may not speak the language(s) in your poem how you want them to approach/encounter it.  This is our first time publishing multilingual and translated work, so please feel free to reach out to us with any questions AND/OR suggestions.

Visual Art Submission Guidelines

All mediums and styles are welcome with the exception of AI-generated work. Art created using AI tools will not be accepted.

Mediums include, but are not limited to painting, sculpture, fiber arts, photography, collage, and more.

If you are submitting 3D art, you must be able to submit a 2D representation of the work since we are a print publication. However, there may be future gallery opportunities.

Work must be previously unpublished, but can be from any year.

High-quality images are preferred. Phone photos are great! ut it shouldn’t be pixelated or blurry. We want to be sure we are seeing what you want us to see. Artist Statements are welcome but not required. Submit your statement in the “brief bio” section of the submittable form. Some things we are looking for:

Art that is vulnerable or raw.

Art that tells a story or that carries emotional impact.

Art that shows us about the world in your eyes.

Experimental art welcome!

Please submit your work as JPEG or PDF. If you need to submit in a different format, please email us.

Thanks!

We look forward to reading your work and discovering new voices to feature in Pegasus!

Questions? Contact the editorial team at pegasuspoetrymag@gmail.com.

Guidelines:

• The KSPS Grand Prix Poetry Contest is open to any US poet writing in English, age 18+
• Poems may be any topic, any form 
• Each poem must be 30 lines or fewer, including titles, spaces, and stanza breaks
• 1-3 poems per submission. Poems must be in one document; only one poem per page.
• $10 submission fee for each entry (1-3 poems)
• KSPS members may submit to both the Grand Prix and the Chaffin/Kash contests (separate entry fees)
• Poems must be the original, unpublished work of the entrant; no AI submissions
• Each poem must be titled or numbered
• Do not include your name or any identifying information on the poem(s)
• Please withdraw poems via Submittable if they are published elsewhere before the contest deadline. Use the "Withdraw" function or the "Message" function  to withdraw single poems from a submission packet.
• Deadline is July 31, 2026, 11:59 pm ET
• Winners are announced in September and are invited to read at the KSPS annual conference
• Winners are published in the KSPS literary journal Pegasus

Prizes:

• 1st Prize: $100
• 2nd Prize: $50
• 3rd Prize: $25

Judge: LeTonia Jones is the author of Black Girl at the Intersection, a collection of poetry that explores survival, resilience, and love. She lives in Lexington, KY and is the co-founder of Bloodroot Ink where she co-facilitates an international writing circle for BIPOC womxn and femmes focused on truth-telling that roots and heals.  

About: The Kentucky State Poetry Society seeks to inspire, encourage, and develop Kentucky’s poets through a wide variety of workshops, lectures, and publishing opportunities. The Kentucky State Poetry Society publishes the biannual literary journal Pegasus, offers a student and adult poetry contests, and hosts an annual conference. 

Guidelines:

• The KSPS Chaffin/Kash Contest is open only to members of the Kentucky State Poetry Society (see KSPS website for membership information)
• Poems may be any topic, any form 
• Each poem must be 30 lines or fewer, including titles, spaces, and stanza breaks
• 1-3 poems per submission. Poems must be in one document; only one poem per page
• $10 submission fee for each entry (1-3 poems)
• KSPS members may submit to both contests (separate entry fees)
• Poems must be the original, unpublished work of the entrant; no AI submissions
• Poems must be titled or numbered
• Do not include your name or any identifying information on the poem(s)
• Please withdraw poems via Submittable if they are published elsewhere before the contest deadline. Use the "Withdraw" function or the "Message" function to withdraw single poems from a submission packet.
• Deadline is July 31, 2026, 11:59 pm ET
• Winners are announced in September and are invited to read at the KSPS annual conference.
• Winners are published in the KSPS literary journal Pegasus

Prizes:

• 1st Prize: $100
• 2nd Prize: $50
• 3rd Prize: $25

Judge: Marianne Worthington is an educator, poet, and editor. She is author of The Girl Singer (University Press of Kentucky, 2021), winner of the 2021 Weatherford Award for Poetry, and the forthcoming poetry collection Water. Witness. Word. from Belle Point Press (2026). Her work has appeared in Oxford American, CALYX, Salvation South, Zone 3, and Southern Humanities Review ,among other places. She cofounded and was poetry editor of Still: The Journal, an online literary magazine publishing writers, artists, and musicians with ties to Appalachia (2009-2024). Her work has been supported by Kentucky Arts Council, Kentucky Foundation for Women, and the Berea College Appalachian Sound Archives Fellowship. She grew up in East Tennessee, and lives, writes, and teaches in Southeastern Kentucky.

About: The Kentucky State Poetry Society seeks to inspire, encourage, and develop Kentucky’s poets through a wide variety of workshops, lectures, and publishing opportunities. The Kentucky State Poetry Society publishes the biannual literary journal Pegasus, offers a student and adult poetry contest, and hosts an annual conference.