The Donald Justice Poetry Prize is a prestigious national competitionJessica Benham.
Texas Tech University Professor Receives Prestigious Donald Justice Poetry Prize
" ''Texas Tech News''. July 14, 2008 sponsored by the Iris N. Spencer Poetry Awards of the West Chester University Poetry Center. It has been given annually since 2006 to an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

for an unpublished book-length manuscript of formal

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

. Each year, one manuscript is selected for the award and is published in the spring. The submissions are judged blindly and selected by a notable poet who works in traditional forms. Past judges have included

Erica Dawson Erica Dawson is an American poet and professor. She is the author of three poetry collections. Biography Dawson grew up in Columbia, Maryland. After earning a B.A. degree at Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Poetry a ...

, David Mason,

A. E. Stallings Alicia Elsbeth Stallings (born July 2, 1968) is an American New Formalist and Philhellene poet and translator. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she was named a 2011 MacArthur Fellow (the "Genius Grant"). Background Stalling ...

, and

Marilyn Nelson Marilyn Nelson (born April 26, 1946) is an American poet, translator, and children's book author. She is a professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut, and the former poet laureate of Connecticut, She is a winner of the Ruth Lilly Poetry ...

. The winner receives $1,500 and will have the manuscript published by Autumn House Press. Prior to 2018, winning poetry collections were either published by Measure Press or West Chester University. The award is presented at the annual West Chester University Poetry Event each spring.

Past winners

The following are the winners of the Donald Justice Poetry Prize: *2006 Kate Light, ''Gravity's Dream: New Poems and Sonnets'' *2007

Kim Bridgford Kim Suzanne Bridgford (August 8, 1959 – June 28, 2020) was an American poet, writer, critic, and academic. In her poetry, she wrote primarily in traditional forms, particularly sonnets. She was the director of Poetry by the Sea: A Global Confe ...

, ''In the Extreme: Sonnets about World Records'' *2008

John Poch John Poch (born 1966 in Erie, Pennsylvania) is an American poet, fiction writer, and critic. Biography John Poch holds an M.F.A. in Poetry from the University of Florida and a Ph.D. in English from the University of North Texas. He was the in ...

, ''Two Men Fighting with a Knife'' *2009

Julie Kane :''Disambiguation: for the character voiced by Kate Micucci see Motorcity#Protagonists.'' Julie Kane (born July 20, 1952 in Boston) is a contemporary American poet, scholar, and editor and was the Louisiana Poet Laureate for the 2011–2013 ter ...

, ''Jazz Funeral'' *2010 Ned Balbo, ''Trials of Edgar Poe and Other Poems''Lori A. May
An interview with Ned Balbo
" ''Poets’ Quarterly'' Issue 3 – Spring 2010 *2011

Amit Majmudar Amit Majmudar (born 1979) is an American novelist and poet. In 2015, he was named the first Poet Laureate of Ohio. Life Majmudar, a son of Indian immigrants, grew up in the Cleveland area. He earned a BS at the University of Akron and an MD at No ...

, ''Heaven and Earth'' *2012 Joanna Pearson, '' Oldest Mortal Myth'' *2013 Anne-MarieThompson, ''Audiation'' *2014 Susan McLean, ''The Whetstone Misses the Knife'' *2014 Stephen Gibson, ''Rorschach Art Too'' *2015 Jeff Hardin, ''Restoring the Narrative'' *2015 Pat Valdata, ''Where No Man Can Touch'' *2017 Ryan Wilson, ''The Stranger World'' *2018 Chad Abushanab, ''The Last Visit'' *2019 Katherine Barrett Swett, ''Voice Message'' *2020 John Foy, ''No One Leaves the World Unhurt'' *2021 Alexis Sears, ''Out of Order''

References

American poetry awards {{lit-award-stub