Poetry Northwest’s inaugural James Welch Prize will be awarded every winter to two outstanding poems, each written by an Indigenous U.S. poet. The prize is named for Blackfeet writer James Welch, whose early poems were featured in Poetry Northwest and who went on to become one of the region’s most important novelists. The prize will be awarded to two first place winners every year, each receiving $1000 and publication in Poetry Northwest. In addition, through partnerships with Seattle Arts & Lectures, Hugo House, and the Beargrass Writing Retreat, each winner will also receive a trip to either Seattle, WA, or Missoula, MT, to read with the contest’s judge. We are honored to have Diné poet Sherwin Bitsui judging this year’s prize.

Poetry Northwest will be launching a fundraising campaign this December in order to keep the Welch Prize sustainably fee-free for Native writers over the next several years. Most prizes are pay-to-play: writers pay fees, and those fees then create the cash purse that’s paid out to the winner. Our goal with this 3-week Kickstarter campaign is to raise $10,000 that will go towards paying for the cash purse for the next five years. By donating to the campaign, you will be paying the submission fees for the Native writers entering our contest and, at the same time, contributing to the cash prize for the winners. None of this money goes into the pockets of Poetry Northwest—it is entirely for the winning writers—and any money that we raise over our goal amount will be donated to In-Na-Po, a new Indigenous poets guild, whose partnership is an integral part of making this new prize possible, ethical, and sustainable.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more information about how you can be a contributor to this collaborative celebration of Indigenous poets.