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PSA Annual Awards
Poetry Society of America Awards Guidelines
Poetry Society of America Awards | Poetry ebooks
Note: Awards 1-5 are open only to PSA Members
1. The Writer Magazine/Emily Dickinson Award
$250
Given by the PSA to honor the memory and poetry of Emily Dickinson, for a poem
inspired by Dickinson though not necessarily in her style. Line limit: 30
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry | The TS Eliot Prize
2. Cecil Hemley Memorial Award
$500
Established by Jack Stadler, former Treasurer of the PSA, and his late wife,
Ralynn Stadler, for a lyric poem that addresses a philosophical or
epistemological concern. Line limit: 100
3. Lyric Poetry Award
$500
Established under the will of PSA member Mrs. Consuelo Ford (Althea Urn), and
also in memory of Mary Carolyn Davies, for a lyric poem on any subject. Line
limit: 50
4. Lucille Medwick Memorial Award
$500
Established by Maury Medwick in memory of his wife, the poet and editor, for an
original poem in any form on a humanitarian theme. Line limit: 100
5. Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award
$1,000
Offered in memory of a benefactor and friend of the PSA, and partially endowed
by the Estate of Rachel Dalven, for a manuscript-in-progress of poetry or
verse-drama. The cover page for this submission must include a one-paragraph
description of the project. Finalists will be asked to submit additional
material. Previously published work may be included in your submission; include
acknowledgement of publications on your cover page. Poems entered as part of a
Di Castagnola manuscript may be entered individually in other PSA contests, but
not if they are previously published. Line limit: 300 lines of verse; one sample
scene, 20 pages or less, if verse-drama
PSA Member/Non-Member Awards
Awards 6-10 are open to all eligible poets and publishers
6. Louise Louis/Emily F. Bourne Student Poetry Award
$250
Endowed under the wills of Louise Louis Whitbread and Ruth M. Bourne, this prize
is awarded for the best unpublished poem by a student in grades 9 through 12
from the United States. School attended, as well as name and address, should be
noted on the cover page. High school students may send single entries, and high
school teachers or administrators may submit an unlimited number of their
students' poems (one submission per student—see Entry Fees, above). Line limit:
none
7. George Bogin Memorial Award
$500
Established by the family and friends of George Bogin for a selection of four or
five poems that uses language in an original way to reflect the encounter of the
ordinary and the extraordinary and to take a stand against oppression in any of
its forms. Line limit: none
8. Robert H. Winner Memorial Award
$2,500
Established by the family and friends of Robert H. Winner, whose first book of
poems appeared when he was almost fifty years old. This award acknowledges
original work being done in midcareer by a poet who has not had substantial
recognition, and is open to poets over forty who have published no more than one
book. Send a brief but cohesive manuscript of 10 poems (up to 20 pages). Please
include year of birth on cover page. Previously published work may be included
in your submission; include acknowledgement of publications on your cover page.
Poems entered as part of a Winner manuscript may be entered individually in
other PSA contests, but not if they are previously published
Awards 9 & 10
Books must be submitted directly by publishers. Entry forms are required. Please email, write or call Rebecca Wolff, Programs Associate at the PSA, to request a form (rebecca@poetrysociety.org; 212-254-9628). There is a $20 entry fee per book. No book may be submitted to both contests
9. Norma Farber First Book Award
$500
Established by the family and friends of Norma Farber, poet and author of
children's books, for a first book of original poetry written by an American and
published in either a hard or soft cover in a standard edition during the
calendar year. Winning books are distributed to PSA members at the Patron level
or above
10. William Carlos Williams Award
Purchase Prize Between $500 and
$1,000
Endowed by the family and friends of Geraldine Clinton Little, a poet and author
of short stories and former vice-president of the PSA, this prize is for a book
of poetry published by a small press, non-profit or university press. Original
works by a single author who is a permanent resident of the United States will
be considered. Translations are ineligible, as are chapbooks. Winning books are
distributed to PSA Lyric Circle Members
Awards 11 and 12 are by nomination only
11. The Frost Medal
Awarded annually at the discretion of
the PSA's Board of Governors, for distinguished lifetime service to American
poetry. Since 1995, the recipient of the Frost Medal has delivered The Frost
Medal Lecture, a retrospective reading and talk that is the highlight of the
Annual Awards Ceremony
Robert
Frost, honored with the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry four times: 1943,
1937, 1931, 1924, Edgar Lee Masters, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Marianne
Moore, and Wallace Stevens have all been honored by the Poetry Society of
America with this Award. The Frost Medal has recently been awarded to A.
R. Ammons, John Ashbery, Gwendolyn Brooks, Barbara Guest, Donald Hall, Anthony
Hecht, Josephine Jacobsen, Stanley Kunitz, James Laughlin, Denise Levertov,
Adrienne Rich, William Stafford, and Richard Wilbur
The $2,500 prize is provided for by a contribution from Jack Stadler, PSA
Treasurer Emeritus
12. The Shelley Memorial Award
Between $6,000 and $9,000
Established by the will of the late Mary P. Sears in 1929 and given by
nomination only, the Shelley is awarded to a living American poet, selected with
reference to his or her genius and need, by a jury of three poets—one appointed
by the President of Radcliffe, one by the president of the University of
California at Berkeley, and one by the PSA Board of Governors
Recent winners of this award have included Frank Bidart, Lucille Clifton,
Shirley Kaufman, Etheridge Knight, Kenneth Koch, Stanley Kunitz, Robert Pinsky,
Cathy Song, Tom Sleigh, Eleanor Ross Taylor, Jean Valentine, Mona Van Duyn, and
Anne Waldman.
Poetry Society of America
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