Call for entries for the 34. Open Mike – Competition for young literature
Haus für Poesie is organising the 34. Open Mike – Competition for young literature.
The Open Mike promotes young literary talent and offers young authors a stage, brings them into contact with the literary public and serves to build networks. The Open Mike provides long-term support for young talents and helps them to develop their own literary voice.
The 34. Open Mike is endowed with a total of € 7,500.
Participation requirements according to the statutes
1. young authors who are not older than 35 years (deadline May 20, 2026) and have neither an independent literary book publication (also applies to e-books) nor a contract for a book publication with a publisher can participate.
2. either prose (e.g. short prose, short story or a self-contained novel excerpt) or poetry may be submitted, in each case in German or translated into German (see also point 4).
3. the texts must not have been published, including publications on the Internet, as e-books, in magazines, anthologies and publications of any kind, and must not have been successfully submitted to another competition or scholarship.
4. authors who do not write in German and who live in German-speaking countries may submit their text to the competition together with a translator in a translation into German, provided that both the original text and the translation are unpublished.
Submission
1. the length of the submitted texts (poetry or prose, not both together) should correspond to a 15-minute reading time. Submissions that are clearly too long or too short will be excluded from the competition. Neither the sender's name nor a password may appear on the manuscript pages.
2. each participant may only submit one entry. Entries may only be submitted online between April 20 and May 20, 2026 23:59 (CET).
Competition procedure
1st round: Selection by a preliminary jury
1. an independent preliminary jury will select up to 12 texts for the final from the anonymized submissions. The selected applicants will receive a personal invitation by the end of August 2026. The names of the finalists will also be announced on the website of Haus für Poesie.
2. the invited authors will be reimbursed travel expenses (DB 2nd class) of up to €150 upon submission of receipts and invoices. (This does not apply to authors from Berlin).
2nd round: Public final
1. the final will be held in the form of a public reading on Saturday, November 14, 2026 at the PopUp of the Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek in Berlin. Each finalist will have exactly 15 minutes of reading time to present the text and convince the jury and the audience.
2. the main jury will select three winners and award prizes totaling €7,500. At least one prize will be awarded for poetry. The jury will decide on the distribution of the prize money. Deutschlandradio Kultur has been producing a feature on the competition for years.