Submissions for this prize will be accepted between September 1st and September 15th, 2026. Winners will be chosen by guest judge Denise Duhamel. 

All submissions will be considered for publication. Poets living in or born in Virginia, as well as those who have lived in Virginia for two or more years in the past, are eligible. Submit as many as three poems, each no longer than 50 lines, along with a brief biographical note, which should confirm the basis for eligibility as a Virginian. One poem will be selected to receive the $1000 prize and will be published in Shenandoah. No Washington and Lee staff, faculty, or their families are eligible. The Graybeal-Gowen Prize was established to honor the memory of WLU graduate and lover of poetry, Howerton Gowen.      

Please note: We do not accept AI-generated or AI-assisted text or images.

This portal is for COMICS submissions only. Any other genre will be declined without being read. Please see the Submit page on our website for reading periods in all genres. COMICS, considered by editor Chris Gavaler, can be in black and white or color and should be submitted as PDFs. 

Chris will only consider one submission per author at a time (no multiple submissions in different genres, please), and will delete multiple submissions without reading them. Please decide what you’d like us to read most, submit that, and wait for a response before submitting additional work. Submitted work should be previously unpublished in English. Work simultaneously submitted elsewhere will be considered, but we ask that you withdraw the work immediately if it is accepted (and congratulations, by the way). 

Please note: We do not accept AI-generated or AI-assisted text or images.