Several prizes are awarded annually for the best work printed in Poetry during the preceding year. Only poems already published in the magazine are eligible for consideration, and no formal application is necessary. The winners are announced in the November issue. Following the prize descriptions is a complete list of past prizewinners.

The Poetry Foundation also administers the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowships.

The Levinson Prize, presented annually since 1914 through the generosity of the late Salmon O. Levinson and his family, in the amount of $500, is awarded to Carolyn Forché for her poems in the February and March 2011 issues, “Travel Papers” and “The Ghost of Heaven,” as well as her essay in the May 2011 issue, “Reading the Living Archives: The Witness of Literary Art.” Forché is editing, with Duncan Wu, the second volume of her anthology Against Forgetting and is at work on a prose account of her formative years as a poet. She directs the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice at Georgetown University, where she is a professor of English.

The Bess Hokin Prize, established in 1948 through the generosity of our late friend and guarantor Mrs. David Hokin, in the amount of $1,000, is awarded to Tom Pickard for his poem in the December 2010 issue, “Lark & Merlin.” Pickard’s most recent book, More Pricks Than Prizes, was published by Pressed Wafer earlier this year. He lives in the North Pennine Hills of England.

The Frederick Bock Prize, founded in 1981 by friends in memory of the former associate editor of Poetry, in the amount of $500, is awarded to Reginald Dwayne Betts for his poem in the September 2011 issue, “For you: anthophilous, lover of flowers.” Betts is the author of the memoir A Question of Freedom (Avery, 2009) and the poetry collection Shahid Reads His Own Palm (Alice James Books, 2010). He will be spending the 2011–12 year as a Harvard Radcliffe Fellow working on a poetry collection titled Bastards of the Reagan.

The J. Howard and Barbara M.J. Wood Prize, endowed since 1994, in the amount of $5,000, is awarded to Franz Wright for his five poems in the January 2011 issue and his poem in the May 2011 issue, “Our Conversation.” Wright’s recent collection of prose poems, Kindertotenwald, was published this fall by Alfred A. Knopf. His other books include Entries of the Cell (Marick Press, 2010) and Wheeling Motel (Alfred A. Knopf, 2009).

The John Frederick Nims Memorial Prize For Translation, established in 1999 by Bonnie Larkin Nims, trustees of the Poetry Foundation, and friends of the late poet, translator, and editor, in the amount of $500, is awarded to A.E. Stallings for her translations of Angelos Sikelianos in the June 2011 issue and Plutarch in the July/August 2011 issue. Her most recent book is a verse translation of Lucretius, The Nature of Things (Penguin, 2007). Stallings is a current Guggenheim Fellow.

The Friends of Literature Prize, established in 2002 by the Friends of Literature, in the amount of $500, is awarded to Sina Queyras for her poem, “from Euphoria,” in the December 2010 issue. Queyras is the author of four books of poetry, including Expressway (2009) and Lemon Hound (2006), both published by Coach House Books. Her first novel, Autobiography of Childhood, will be published in April 2012.

The Editors Prize for Feature Article, established in 2005, in the amount of $1,000, is awarded to Joshua Mehigan for his essay in the July/August 2011 issue, “I Thought You Were a Poet.” Mehigan’s first book, The Optimist (Ohio University Press, 2004), was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He is a 2011 NEA Fellow. His article will be reprinted in 2012 in the German journal Krachkultur, translated by the poet Christophe Fricker.

The Editors Prize for Reviewing, established in 2004, in the amount of $1,000, is awarded to Peter Campion for his review of The H.D. Book in the September 2011 issue. Campion is the author of two books of poems, Other People (2005) and The Lions (2009), both from the University of Chicago Press. He is a 2011–12 Guggenheim Fellow and teaches in the MFA program at the University of Minnesota.

The Editors Prize for Best Letter, established in 2009, in the amount of $250, is awarded to Belle Randall for her letter in the December 2010 issue.

Past Winners by Prize and Year

The Levinson Prize has been presented annually since 1914 through the generosity of the late Salmon O. Levinson and his family, and is now permanently endowed. Past winners include:

Carl Sandburg 1914 Vachel Lindsay 1915 Edgar Lee Masters 1916 Cloyd Head 1917 O. C. Underwood 1918 H. L. Davis 1919 Wallace Stevens 1920 Lew Sarett 1921 Robert Frost 1922 Edwin Arlington Robinson 1923 Amy Lowell 1924 Ralph Cheever Dunning 1925 Mark Turbyfill 1926 Maurice Lesemann 1927 Elinor Wylie 1928 Marjorie Seiffert 1929 Hart Crane 1930 Edna St. Vincent Millay 1931 no prizes awarded 1932 Marianne Moore 1933 Horace Gregory 1934 Mary Barnard 1935 Robert Penn Warren 1936 Louise Bogan 1937 H. D. 1938 E. E. Cummings 1939 Robinson Jeffers 1940 Archibald MacLeish 1941 Karl J. Shapiro 1942 John Malcoln Brinnin 1943 John Frederick Nims 1944

Dylan Thomas 1945 John Ciardi 1946 Muriel Rukeyser 1947 Randall Jarrell 1948 James Merrill 1949 John Berryman 1950 Theodore Roethke 1951 St. John Perse 1952 Vernon Watkins 1953 William Carlos Williams 1954 Thom Gunn 1955 Stanley Kunitz 1956 Jay MacPherson 1957 Hayden Carruth 1958 Delmore Schwartz 1959 Robert Creeley 1960 David Jones 1961 Anne Sexton 1962 Robert Lowell 1963 Robert Duncan 1964 George Barker 1965 Basil Bunting 1966 Alan Dugan 1967 Gary Snyder 1968 A. D. Hope 1969 A. R. Ammons 1970 Turner Cassity 1971 Michael Hamburger 1972 Richard Howard 1973 John Hollander 1974 Howard Nemerov 1975

Judith Moffett 1976 John Ashbery 1977 Brewster Ghiselin 1978 Philip Levine 1979 Marilyn Hacker 1980 James Dickey 1981 Alfred Corn 1982 Frederick Turner 1983 Ernst Pöppel 1983 Gary Soto 1984 David Bottoms 1985 Raymond Carver 1985 Maxine Kumin 1986 Stephen Dunn 1987 Reynolds Price 1988 Brendan Galvin 1989 J. D. McClatchy 1990 Linda Gregerson 1991 W. S. Merwin 1992 May Sarton 1993 David Wagoner 1994 Billy Collins 1995 Philip Schultz 1996 Yusef Komunyakaa 1997 Rita Dove 1998 Stephen Dobyns 1999 Kenneth Koch 2000 Charlie Smith 2001 Sandra M. Gilbert 2002 Patrick McGuinness 2003 W. S. Di Piero 2004 Frank Bidart 2005 Geoffrey Hill 2006 Mary Kinzie 2007 Frederick Seidel 2008 Ilya Kaminsky 2009 Ron Silliman 2010 Carolyn Forché 2011

The Bess Hokin Prize was established in 1947 through the generosity of our late friend and guarantor, Mrs. David Hokin, and is given annually in her memory. Past winners include:

William Abrahams 1948 Barbara Howes 1949 Lloyd Frankenberg 1950 M. B. Tolson 1951 L. E. Hudgins 1952 Ruth Stone 1953 Hayden Carruth 1954 Philip Booth 1955 Charles Tomlinson 1956 Sylvia Plath 1957 Alan Neame 1958 Jean Clower 1959 Denise Levertov 1960 X. J. Kennedy 1961 W. S. Merwin 1962 Adrienne Rich 1963 Gary Snyder 1964 Galway Kinnell 1965 Thomas Clark 1966 Wendell Berry 1967

Michael Benedikt 1968 Marvin Bell 1969 Charles Martin 1970 Erica Jong 1971 Sandra McPherson 1972 Jane Shore 1973 Margaret Atwood 1974 Charles O. Hartman 1975 Norman Dubie 1976 Gary Soto 1977 Richard Kenney 1978 Robert Beverley Ray 1979 Gerald Stern 1980 Caroline Knox 1981 Pattiann Rogers 1982 Lawrence Raab 1983 Greg Glazner 1984 Linda Pastan 1985 Stephen Dobyns 1986

Ralph Angel 1987 George Starbuck 1988 Alice Fulton 1989 Billy Collins 1990 Gary Fincke 1991 Richard Foerster 1992 Julie Suk 1993 J. D. McClatchy 1994 Carl Dennis 1995 Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill 1996 Paul Muldoon 1996 James Kimbrell 1997 D. Nurkse 1998 Dabney Stuart 1999 George Scarbrough 2000 Wayne Miller 2001 Alissa Leigh 2002 Robert Bly 2003 A. F. Moritz 2004 Craig Arnold 2005 Robert Pinsky 2006 Conor O'Callaghan 2007 George Szirtes 2008 Roddy Lumsden 2009 Valzhyna Mort 2010 Tom Pickard 2011

The Frederick Bock Prize was founded in 1981 by friends of the late former Associate Editor of Poetry. Past winners include:

John N. Morris 1981 Baron Wormser 1982 Richard Kenney 1983 Rodney Jones 1984 Dana Gioia 1985 Cathy Song 1986 Kevin Stein 1987 Robert Wrigley 1988

J. Allyn Rosser 1989 George Witte 1990 Neal Bowers 1991 Billy Collins 1992 Jane Kenyon 1993 Tom Disch 1994 Alison Stone 1995 James Scruton 1996

Andrew Hudgins 1997 Pattiann Rogers 1998 Sarah Arvio 1999 Roberta Spear 2000 Trevor West Knapp 2001 David Bottoms 2002 D. Nurske 2003 A. E. Stallings 2004 Albert Goldbarth 2005 Thylias Moss 2006 Jason Guriel 2007 Rae Armantrout 2008 Don Paterson 2009 Paul Hoover 2010 Reginald Dwayne Betts 2011

The Union League Civic and Arts Poetry Prize for a young poet was presented annually from 1951 to 1972, and re-established in 1993 to 2006, through the generosity of the Union League Civic & Arts Foundation. Past winners include:

Horace Gregory 1951 Robinson Jeffers 1952 Robert Penn Warren 1953 Dorothy Donnelly 1954 Anne Ridler 1955 Jean Garrigue 1956 Robert Duncan 1957 James Dickey 1958 William Stafford 1959 Ben Belitt 1960 Charles Tomlinson 1961 William Dickey 1962

William Jay Smith 1963 Louis Zukofsky 1964 Gael Turnbull 1965 John Ashbery 1966 Robert Creeley 1967 Clayton Eshleman 1968 Margaret Atwood 1969 Dick Allen 1970 Philip Murray 1971 Tom Disch 1972 William Matthews 1993 Debora Greger 1994

Neal Bowers 1995 Sandra M. Gilbert 1996 David Wagoner 1997 Yusef Komunyakaa 1998 J. D. McClatchy 1999 Kay Ryan 2000 Ellen Hinsey 2001 Not Awarded 2002 Eleanor Stanford 2003 Neisha Tweed 2004 Meghan O'Rourke 2005 Katherine Larson 2006

The J. Howard and Barbara M. J. Wood Prize is presented annually and endowed since 1994 through the generosity of Mrs. Wood. Past winners include:

Rebecca McClanahan 1994 W. S. Merwin 1995 Charles Wright 1996 Carl Dennis 1997

Robert Wrigley 1998 Billy Collins 1999 Charlie Smith 2000 Stephen Dunn 2001

Stephen Dobyns 2002 William Logan 2003 Atsuro Riley 2004 J. Allyn Rosser 2005 Joel Brouwer 2006 Heidi Steidlmayer 2007 Seth Abramson 2008 Sarah Lindsay 2009 Dorothea Grossman 2010 Franz Wright 2011

The John Frederick Nims Memorial Prize for translation work is permanently endowed through a fund established by Bonnie Larkin Nims, Trustees of The Poetry Foundation, and friends of the late poet, translator, and Editor of Poetry. Past winners include:

Rita Dove and Fred Viebahn 1999
Andrew Shields 2000
Marilyn Hacker 2001
Eavan Boland 2002
Reginald Gibbons and Charles Segal 2003
Sherod Santos 2004
Clare Cavanagh 2005
Geoffrey Brock 2006
Michael Hofmann 2007
Philip Nikolayev 2008
Susanna Nied 2009
Laura Leichum 2010
A.E. Stallings 2011

The Friends of Literature Prize was established in 2002 by The Friends of Literature, founded in Chicago in 1934 to study literature and to honor those who create it. Past winners include:

Gregory Djanikian 2002
Susan Kinsolving 2003
Ralph Sneeden 2004
Nance Van Winckel 2005
Dana Levin 2006
Todd Hearon 2007
Leila Wilson 2008
Sandra Beasley 2009
Spencer Reece 2010
Sina Queyras 2011

The Editors Prize for Criticism was established in 2004 by the Poetry Foundation.
Michael Hofmann 2004

Editors Prize for Feature Article was established in 2005 by the Poetry Foundation.
Mary Kinzie 2005
Tony Hoagland 2006
Clive James 2007
Vivian Gornick 2008
Daisy Fried 2009
Durs Grünbein 2010
Joshua Mehigan 2011

Editors Prize for Book Reviewing was established in 2005 by the Poetry Foundation.
D.H. Tracy 2005
David Orr 2006
Brian Phillips 2007
Ange Mlinko 2008
Jason Guriel 2009
Abigail Deutsch 2010
Peter Campion 2011

The Editors Prize for Best Letter was established in 2009 by the Poetry Foundation.
Reagan Upshaw 2009
Daniel Brett Clendening 2010
Belle Randall 2011