The James Hearst Poetry Prize is an annual competition administered by the North American Review, a literary journal with a long institutional history. The prize honors James Hearst, a poet and professor at the University of Northern Iowa who served as a contributing editor and guiding force for the Review. His own work, collected in The Complete Poetry of James Hearst (University of Iowa Press, 2001), is noted for its plainspoken attention to the natural world and rural life—qualities that continue to inform the prize's character. The competition welcomes all forms of previously unpublished poetry, with up to five poems permitted per submission. A single entry fee of $23.00 (USD) applies. The winning entry, runners-up, honorable mentions, and finalists will be offered publication in the North American Review's spring issue. Results are announced in late January. The journal does not specify a cash prize in the provided materials; the primary recognition is publication. Submissions are judged blind: no names or addresses should appear on the manuscript. Contact information must be entered in the cover letter. The submission should be titled with the titles of each poem included; for long titles, use the first two to three words. Manuscripts must be submitted as a Word document. This is a contest for poets working in English who have not yet published the submitted poems elsewhere.