Poetry Prize
For the 2023 contest, the Autumn House staff as well as select outsider readers serve as the preliminary readers, and the final judge is January Gill O’Neil (Update 08/08/23: Toi Derricotte has recused herself as this year’s judge for personal reasons). The winner receives publication of a full-length manuscript and $2,500. The submission period opens January 1, 2023, and closes May 31, 2023 (Eastern Time). We will announce the finalists and the winner of the contest by October 15, 2023.
Guidelines for the Autumn House Poetry Prize
- The winner will receive book publication, a $1,000 honorarium, and a $1,500 travel/publicity grant to promote their book
- All finalists will be considered for publication
- Poetry submissions should be approximately 50-80 pages
- Each new poem should start on a new page
- Illustrations are strongly discouraged
- The reading fee is $30; we’ve reached our cap for fee waivers for the 2023 Poetry Prize. We appreciate your understanding and apologize for any inconvenience.
- The book should be previously unpublished
- Do not include your name anywhere on the actual manuscript; if your name appears within the body of the text, please omit it or black it out (first name is fine, but last name must be omitted)
- You may include a brief bio in the “cover letter” section of Submittable
- Do not include a bio or an acknowledgments page in the manuscript
- Feel free to include a table of contents (This does not count a part of your final page count)
- Simultaneous submissions permitted
- Friends, family members, and former students of judges or Autumn House editors may not submit to the contest. Students do not include interactions at short-term residencies or fellowships.
- Former employees of Autumn House, including interns, may not submit to the contest.
If you have any questions, please check our FAQ page.
Winners of the Autumn House Poetry Prize
Year | Author | Title | Judge |
2022 | Jennifer Conlon | Taking to Water | Carl Phillips |
2021 | Sara R. Burnett | Seed Celestial | Eileen Myles |
2020 | Shayla Lawz | speculation, n. | Ilya Kaminsky |
2019 | makalani bandele | under the aegis of a winged mind | Cornelius Eady |
2018 | Charles Kell | Cage of Lit Glass | Kimiko Hahn |
2017 | Melissa Cundieff | Darling Nova | Alberto Ríos |
2016 | Jane Satterfield | Apocalypse Mix | David St. John |
2015 | Brian Swann | St. Francis and the Flies | Dorianne Laux |
2014 | Ellery Akers | Practicing the Truth | Alicia Ostriker |
2013 | Danusha Lameris | The Moons of August | Naomi Shihab Nye |
2012 | Chelsea Rathburn | A Raft of Grief | Stephen Dunn |
2011 | Brian Brodeur | Natural Causes | Denise Duhamel |
2010 | Corrinne Clegg Hales | To Make It Right | Claudia Emerson |
2009 | Jacqueline Berger | The Gift that Arrives Broken | Alicia Ostriker |
2008 | Mary Crockett Hill | A Theory of Everything | Naomi Shihab Nye |
2007 | Miriam Levine | The Dark Opens | Mark Doty |
2006 | Nancy Pagh | No Sweeter Fat | Tim Seibles |
2005 | Ada Limon | lucky wreck | Jean Valentine |
2004 | Ruth L. Schwartz | Dear Good Naked Morning | Alicia Ostriker |
2003 | Deborah Slicer | The White Calf Kicks | Naomi Shihab Nye |
We strive to run our contests ethically and subscribe to CLMP’s guidelines. We encourage you to reach out if you are uncertain about a potential conflict of interest.