Early Bird Deadline: October 1st, 2025: Submit by this date and include an extra poem in your submission, free of charge!

  Deadline for all entries: November 1st, 2025

  Calling all emerging poets! The Foster Poetry Prize awards $1000 and publication in CV2 to the author of the winning poem. Cash prizes and publication in CV2 are awarded to second and third place, as well as an honourable mention.

• Participating poets can be any age, but must not have published a full-length book of poetry (chapbooks are fine). All entrants must be willing to provide proof of their publication history if requested. 
• Open to Canadian and International poets. 
• Entry fee: $35 (first entry, includes 1-year subscription), $20 (subsequent entries)
• Due to high international shipping costs, the subscription term for contest entrants residing in the US is 9 months (3 issues). For international residents, the subscription term is 3 months (1 issue). 
• Your submission may consist of 1-2 poems, and is not to exceed 80 lines total. If you are submitting within the Early Bird Deadline and will be including a third poem, that poem can put you over the 80-line limit. However, the extra poem must not be longer than 28 lines.
• Stanza breaks DO NOT count as lines, nor do titles or subheadings.
• Do not identify yourself anywhere in your attachment. Enter your name and address information in the form provided in Submittable. In the space reserved for a cover letter please enter the title(s) of your piece(s) and line count.
• Your entry must be formatted on 8 1/2″ x 11″ using single spacing and a 12 point font (Times New Roman preferred).
• Entries must be sent in .doc, .docx, or .rtf format using Submittable. Please do not send your poem as a pdf.
• Winners of the 2025 Foster Poetry Prize will be notified by email and results will be available on the CV2 website in January 2026.
• Each piece must be original, unpublished, not submitted elsewhere for publication or broadcast, nor accepted elsewhere for publication or broadcast, nor entered simultaneously in any other contest or competition for which it is also eligible to win a prize.
• Winning pieces will be published in CV2 magazine, with authors paid for publication.

As part of CV2's 50th Anniversary celebrations, we're pleased to offer this special submissions form, open exclusively to those whose poetry has never before been published in print, and whose poetry (at the time of submission) has not been accepted for publication in any other print formats.

Over its 50-year history, CV2 has had the privilege of providing dozens of writers with their first print publications, and this year, as we celebrate this milestone anniversary for the magazine, we hope to support a fresh wave of emerging poets in the same way.

Submissions to this exclusive portal are free of charge (for both Canadians and non-Canadians), and the poems submitted will be treated like any other submission to the magazine, in that each one will be read and carefully considered by our editorial team. Submitters to this exclusive portal will receive a response to their submissions within three months of submission, and, if accepted, their work will appear in a 2025 issue of CV2 Magazine, so as to be part of our 50th Anniversary celebrations this year. 

If your poetry has previously been published online, but never in print, you are welcome to submit (bearing in mind that the specific poem(s) you submit must not previously have been published in any format). While those who have previously published in print writing in genres other than poetry are welcome to submit, priority will be given to those who are entirely unpublished, depending on the number of submissions received and the space available in our 2025 issues.

Submitters must confirm in their cover letter that they A) Have never had their poetry published in print, and B) That, at the time of submission, their work has not been accepted for publication by any other print outlets. See below for full submission guidelines.

NB: This submission portal is for writers whose poetry has never before been published in print, and whose poetry (at the time of submission) has not been accepted for publication in any other print formats, only. All submitters who do not qualify under these terms are invited to submit to our General Submissions forms, also open now. 

Submissions to this exclusive portal are free of charge (for both Canadians and non-Canadians), and the poems submitted will be treated like any other submission to the magazine, in that each one will be read and carefully considered by our editorial team. 

Submitters to this exclusive portal will receive a response to their submissions within three months of submission, and, if accepted, their work will appear in a 2025 issue of CV2 Magazine, so as to be part of our 50th Anniversary celebrations this year. 

While those who have previously published writing in genres other than poetry are welcome to submit, priority will be given to those who are entirely unpublished, depending on the number of submissions received and the space available in our 2025 issues.

See below for full submission guidelines. We look forward to reading your work!

Full Submission Guidelines:

Contemporary Verse 2 only accepts one submission per submitter at a time (submissions to our two annual contests, the 2-Day Poem Contest and the Foster Poetry Prize, do not count).

Any submissions that do not follow correct guidelines or do not include full contact information will not be considered for publication and will not receive a reply. 

CV2 welcomes submissions of original, previously-unpublished work. By submitting to this portal you are confirming that the work submitted is entirely your own (not including translations) and has not previously been published in any format.

You may submit no more than 5 poems, to a maximum of 6 pages.

CV2 welcomes poetry submissions in French, as well as translation projects, including both French to English and English to French.

CV2 accepts translations of works in any language.

If submitting a translation, please include in your cover letter permissions and a bio from the original artist, and a citation of the original source of the work.

eg: “Title of Poem.” Title of Collection. Publisher, Year of Publication.

 Please upload your submission as a single attachment of a Microsoft Word, TXT or RTF (rich text format) document.