Awards > Annual Awards

Awards

Annual Awards

The PSA's Annual Awards are among the most prestigious honors available to poets. They offer emerging and established poets recognition at all stages of their careers, including our student poetry award and book awards for publishers.

Individual Awards Anna Rabinowitz Prize Student Poetry Award Book Awards for Publisher

Poetry Society of America Awards

All submissions to the Poetry Society of America's individual awards (#1 -7) are through Submittable. We do not accept print submissions. Please read the below guidelines and visit Submittable to enter your work.

Submission Details

DEADLINE

October 1-December 31, 2023

(11:59 PM EST)

Online Entry

Submit Entry

PRIZE

$250-$2500

Varies based on award

Award 1
The Writer Magazine/Emily Dickinson Award
$250

For a short poem, no longer than 16 lines.

Judged by Tawanda Mulalu.

Award 2
Cecil Hemley Memorial Award
$500

For a narrative poem.

Established by Jack Stadler, former Treasurer of the PSA, and his late wife, Ralynn Stadler.

Judged by Kathy Fagan.

Award 3
Lyric Poetry Award
$500

For a lyric poem on any subject.

Established under the will of PSA member Mrs. Consuelo Ford (Althea Urn), and also in memory of Mary Carolyn Davies.

Judged by Richie Hofmann.

Award 4
Lucille Medwick Memorial Award
$500

For a prose poem.

Established by Maury Medwick in memory of his wife, the poet and editor.

Judged by Sandra Lim.

Award 5
Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award
$1,000

For 10 pages of poetry from a manuscript-in-progress.

Previously published poems are acceptable; include acknowledgment of publications on your cover sheet. Poems entered as part of a Di Castagnola manuscript may be entered individually in other PSA awards, if they haven’t been previously published.

Offered in memory of a benefactor and friend of the PSA, and partially endowed by the Estate of Rachel Dalven, and the estate of Ellen Lamon Anderson.

Judged by Lucy Ives.

Award 6
George Bogin Memorial Award
$500

For a selection of four or five poems that use 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.

Established by the family and friends of George Bogin.

Judged by Claire Schwartz.

Award 7
Robert H. Winner Memorial Award
$2,500

For a manuscript of 10 pages by a mid-career poet who has not had substantial recognition. Open to poets 40 and over who have published no more than one full-length collection of poetry. Poets who have not published a poetry collection are eligible.

Previously published poems are acceptable; include acknowledgment of publications on your cover sheet. Poems entered as part of a Winner manuscript may be entered individually in other PSA awards, if they haven’t been previously published.

Established by the family and friends of Robert H. Winner, whose first book of poems appeared when he was almost fifty years old.

Judged by Nathan McClain.

Entry Fees

  • All submissions must be through Submittable.
  • Poetry Society of America members can enter all awards for free.
  • Non-Members of the Poetry Society can enter each contest for a fee. Single poem awards are $10, multiple poem contests are $15.

Submission Details & Instructions

  • Awards are open to Poetry Society of America members for free.
  • The fees for non-members are: single poem awards $10, multiple poem awards are $15.
  • Personal identification cannot appear in the submission document anywhere, including in the file name.
  • Only one entry per award.
  • You cannot submit the same poem to more than one award.
    The exception: Individual poems submitted to the Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award or Robert H. Winner Award may be submitted to another PSA award.
  • The submission must not have been previously published or accepted for publication.
    The exception: Individual poems submitted to the Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award and the Robert Winner Award may have been published.
  • Simultaneous submissions are fine; if the poem is accepted elsewhere for publication, please withdraw the submission.
  • Submissions written by more than one author are not eligible.
  • Translations are not eligible. All poems must be original and primarily in English.
  • A poem that has previously won a Poetry Society of America award cannot be resubmitted to any of the awards.
  • We cannot accept corrections after submission.
  • Submissions from Poetry Society employees, officers, advisory board committee members, or their immediate families are ineligible.
  • All submissions are judged anonymously.

Notification

  • We cannot confirm receipt over phone or email.
  • We cannot accept any corrections or revisions to submissions.
  • The winners will be announced in late spring.

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Membership

Four Quartets Prize

The Four Quartets Prize is for a unified and complete sequence of poems published in America in a print or online journal, chapbook, or book.

Learn More

Chapbook Fellowships

Launched in 2003, the PSA's Chapbook Program publishes each winner's work as a gorgeous chapbook, allowing new voices to reach new audiences.

Learn More

Frost & Shelley Awards

The Frost Medal and Shelley Memorial Award recognize lifetime and mid-career achievement in poetry. By nomination only.

Learn More