The Washington Prize, awarded annually to a living American or Canadian poet, is $1,500 and book publication for a manuscript of original poetry in English. Poets at any stage in their career may submit a manuscript of 48 to 80 pages between January 15 and March 15. $25 entry fee. The winner is selected in summer and publication is planned for early the following year.

Direct questions to Andrea Carter Brown, Washington Prize Series Editor, at andrea@wordworksbooks.org.

Please review the submission details on our Guidelines page, then click the orange link there to our Submissions Manager. Easy! But do remember to remove all identifying information, including acknowledgments page, from your submission.

Selection Process

Manuscripts climb up a pyramid of diverse readers, all of whom are published poets themselves. No reader knows the identity of the author of any manuscript, and if work is recognized, it is returned immediately to be reassigned. A group of ten to twelve finalists eventually arrives on the desks of the five final judges.

Five judges spend an entire day discussing the finalists until a consensus is achieved. Should any judge recognize a finalist manuscript, they recuse themselves from discussion of that book and, if necessary, the final decision.

The Winners

Note: Initially, the Washington Prize was awarded for a single poem which then appeared in Poets & Writers. In 1987, it became a book-length manuscript award that included publication.

1981 – “Nee Maggie Malone” by Barbara Goldberg
1982 – “To the Close Friend Most Unlike Me” by Susan Gubernat
1983 – “Initiation at Bish Bash Falls” by Judith Steinbergh
1984 – “Flight” by Lindsay Knowlton
1985 – “Stalking the Florida Panther” by Enid Shomer
1986 – “Crow” by Renee Ashley
1987 – “Setting the Table, Eating What is Served” by Lisa Ress
1987 – Stalking the Florida Panther by Enid Shomer
1988 – The Way Water Rubs Stone by Christopher Bursk
1989 – Love-In-Idleness by John Bradley
1990 – Farewell to the Body by Barbara Moore
1991 – For Blameless Lives by Elaine Magarrell
1992 – Sun, Moon, Salt by Nancy White
1993 – Tipping Point by Fred Marchant
1994 – The Cutoff by Jay Rogoff
1995 – Toward Desire by Linda Lee Harper
1996 – Spinoza’s Mouse by George Young
1997 – A Diamond Is Hard But Not Tough by Ann Rae Jonas
1998 – Following Fred Astaire by Nathalie F. Anderson
1999 – Last Heat by Peter Blair
2000 – Gandhi’s Lap by Charlotte Gould Warren
2001 – One Hundred Children Waiting for a Train by Michael Atkinson
2002 – Phoenix Suites by Miles Waggener
2003 – Survivable World by Ron Mohring
2004 – Biography of Water by Carrie Bennett
2005 – Fleur Carnivore by Richard Lyons
2006 – The Hat City After Men Stopped Wearing Hats by John Surowiecki
2007 – Call From Paris by Prartho Sereno
2008 – Ace by Richard Carr
2009 – Mayweed by Frannie Lindsay
2010 – Motion Studies by Brad Richard
2011 – How to Make a Bird With Two Hands by Mike White
2012 – St. Rage’s Vault by B. K. Fischer
2013 – The Whole Field Still Moving Inside It by Molly Bashaw
2014 – rel[AM]ent by Jamison Crabtree
2015 – Simple Machines by Barbara Duffey
2016 – Hunt by Jessica Cuello
2017 – Zoom by Susan Lewis
2018 – Gembox by Nils Michals
2019 – Eros, Unbroken by Annie Kim
2020 – All Morning the Crows by Meg Kearney
2021 – The Loneliest Whale Blues by Sharon Suzuki-Martinez
2022 – The Knife Thrower’s Girl by Naomi Mulvihill
2023 – Pine Soot Tendon Bone by Radha Marcum