dipity. 2025 Surf Rock Poetry Prize
our annual contest is being rebooted and opening up early plus just sharing a few updates on upcoming releases
ISSUE NO. 5 STATUS UPDATE
Hi all! So really quickly just sharing that issue no. 5 is at 94% completion. It’s about ~170 pages. We received really stellar graffiti and street photography donations this year from different parts of the world for this predominantly cat-themed issue. We have a few items and bio confirmations coming in before December 10th—so almost there and contributors will be notified this month with a full preview to request any final changes or corrections before it is submitted for release soon then I’ll share out here once it’s available.
If you were not contacted about an additional bonus section this year-we will be continuing to select those who completed our online Q&As for the community bonus shares, interview, and music sections—sharing those in upcoming issues over time gradually. Our next issue will have a much darker theme TBA. Writer Q&As will open back up again soon too—along with new artist Q&As later on.
CHANGES TO OUR ANNUAL CASH PRIZE CONTEST
As you recall our 2024 Dipity Lit Mag Symphonic Challenge just finished, this music-inspired challenge will be converted permanently to our annual contest which will now be called the Surf Rock Poetry Prize brought to by both Dipity Lit Mag & Dipity Press.
To enter the 2025 Surf Rock Poetry Prize please see our guidelines—you can choose from any of the artists or bands we’ve listed. Send up to THREE NEW poems for consideration but focus on just ONE artist/band and ONE song of theirs for the overall entry. The entry fee is $5 this year as we have revised our categories now to all match our set range so 50% of our other yearly categories instead of 80% are initially 100% free to submit to as we try to not have paywalls on most publications excluding the print series. I would prefer zero sub fees but we’re still not capable of doing so. Please note I’m still updating parts of the website to reflect recent announcements and changes.
CONTEST OVERVIEW
1st place now receives $50 USD and the fave poem from entries will be read on the Hummingbird Blink: Nectar Poetry Spotify podcast show per tradition by the artist or band if available at the time of closure, or, by myself if they’re not able to, plus will be announced through our newsletter/other channels. I hope to increase the cash prize on this annual contest again one day of course.
If you missed the last winner announcement from this year, I recommend listening again to episode no. 137 of the Hummingbird Blink podcast with Emily Magpie and go back in time to our first announcement episode no. 128 with INGEBAR music too. and no. 130 is another episode to refer to.
We will still choose three finalists too, and just one winning poem like in past years. I will share accepted entries with the artists and bands as well. It is actually open now and the deadline is March 1st, 2025, but subject to change based on our caps or the submission volume seen.
Once an artist reaches or receives up to 8 accepted inspo poems, they are crossed off for the round or marked as [CLOSED]. The count will be updated under the initial Submittable bucket guidelines. See our submission section (expand the arrow) to read the full terms and guidelines on how a winning poem will be selected.
ALL accepted entries will get a digital collage art piece from me and be published in the Online Tank and placed potentially one day in one of our new fun upcoming very bite-sized featured print music and poetry spin-off series through Dipity Press which will showcase our past contest results too. Entries must be through our Submittable page only.
We tend to use predominantly SoundCloud on our website, however not all artists are on there but that’s ok you can go out to Spotify, YouTube still, your preferred listening platform, etc. If an artist has not yet received inspo poems from a past round we include them in a future contest window when possible. The list of awesome artists includes ones from our Q&As, a few forthcoming, and some past issues or those who have shown support of Dipity Lit Mag & Dipity Press. Artists and bands can listed in up to two rounds of challenge cycles too.
SURF THE 22 artist profiles to begin if you’re interested and choose one. You can learn more about some of these artists in our Music Waves Substack section on here too. Here is the list of 21 to pick from for 2025 below and I have their YouTube, SoundCloud, Spotify, etc. page profiles linked over in our Submittable’s guidelines this time:
Saint Gardenia
Isla Rose
NoxTros
ECHOS
Kiiōtō
edda
Boy Okay
CELIA
MUX
Some Days Are Darker
92elm
Kylo
MYRY
Fever Blue
Marley Angel
BLOCKED
Fire Beninois
In the Middle.
Josh Pozzi
OTHER UPDATES
I most likely will be hibernating (less active) on most social media spaces for a bit as a few publications are under construction so closely follow the dipity. site and this Substack. In 2025 our micro-chapbook subs will be opening up too.
Also, COMING SOON is Myths and Facts! no. 3 in the Dipity Press chapbook series by Beth Bayley (completion estimate is sometime in early 2025). It will have some awesome interior art too! Remember that around the holidays our past chapbooks no. 1 and 2 get discounts usually just on our USA Shipping Link—it takes a few days or some time to reflect in the GB Bookshop price changes too.
That’s all for now. We also have a few more upcoming spoken word/podcast episode releases on the way. If you submitted spoken word pieces to dipity. in the past I am also slowly working on some visual video clips for our channels—will share those next year! See the other available submission opportunities and be sure to listen to our podcast. Also, don’t forget to check out the Protagonist Lit mobile app for iPhones. I am currently in the process of onboarding more volunteers to our poetry/feedback reading team too!
I’m wishing everyone a happy upcoming holiday break in advance! We look forward to seeing your poetry submissions. Take care! ~ Jazz Marie (VFORROW)
Any other thoughts, comments, or shares?
We appreciate anyone who takes the time to comment, subscribe here, pledge support to our Substack, donates directly to help fund future community projects on our website, visits the gift shop, or buys us some pizza slices over there. Stay tuned for more Substack shares and interviews. Thanks again for your support and have awesome days ahead!