National Book Award for Poetry

The National Book Award for Poetry is one of four annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".^[1] The panelists are five "writers who are known to be doing great work in their genre or field".^[2]

The category Poetry was established in 1950 and has been awarded annually save the period 1985 to 1990.^[3]

The award recognizes one book written by a US citizen and published in the US from December 1 to November 30. The National Book Foundation accepts nominations from publishers until June 15, requires mailing nominated books to the panelists by August 1, and announces five finalists in October. The winner is announced on the day of the final ceremony in November. The award is $10,000 and a bronze sculpture; other finalists get $1000, a medal, and a citation written by the panel.^[4]

There were 148 nominations for the 2010 award.^[5]

Current rendition

The next longlist will be announced in September 2016.

Winners

The winner is listed first followed by the four other finalists (from 1987) or other runners up.

2010–2019[6]
2015[7][8]	Robin Coste Lewis	Voyage of the Sable Venus
	Ross Gay	Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude
	Terrance Hayes	How to Be Drawn
	Ada Limón	Bright Dead Things
	Patrick Phillips	Elegy for a Broken Machine
2014[9]	Louise Gluck	Faithful and Virtuous Night[10]
	Fanny Howe	Second Childhood
	Maureen N. McLane	This Blue
	Fred Moten	The Feel Trio
	Claudia Rankine	Citizen
2013[11][12]	Mary Szybist	Incarnadine
	Frank Bidart	Metaphysical Dog
	Lucie Brock-Broido	Stay, Illusion
	Adrian Matejka	The Big Smoke
	Matt Rasmussen	Black Aperture
2012[13]	David Ferry	Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations[14][15]
	Susan Wheeler	Meme
	Cynthia Huntington	Heavenly Bodies
	Tim Seibles	Fast Animal
	Alan Shapiro	Night of the Republic
2011	Nikky Finney	Head Off & Split: Poems
	Yusef Komunyakaa	The Chameleon Couch
	Carl Phillips	Double Shadow
	Adrienne Rich	Tonight No Poetry Will Serve: Poems: 2007-2010
	Bruce Smith	Devotions
2010	Terrance Hayes	Lighthead
	Kathleen Graber	The Eternal City
	James Richardson	By the Numbers
	C.D. Wright	One with Others
	Monica Youn	Ignatz
2000-09[16]
2009	Keith Waldrop	Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy
	Rae Armantrout	Versed
	Ann Lauterbach	Or to Begin Again
	Carl Phillips	Speak Low
	Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon	Open Interval
2008	Mark Doty	Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems
2007	Robert Hass	Time and Materials: Poems, 1997–2005
2006	Nathaniel Mackey	Splay Anthem
2005	W. S. Merwin	Migration: New and Selected Poems
2004	Jean Valentine	Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965-2003
2003	C. K. Williams	The Singing
2002	Ruth Stone	In the Next Galaxy
2001	Alan Dugan	Poems Seven: New and Complete Poetry (vol 7 of seven)
2000	Lucille Clifton	Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988–2000
1991–99[17]
1999	Ai	Vice: New and Selected Poems
1998	Gerald Stern	This Time: New and Selected Poems
1997	William Meredith	Effort at Speech: New and Selected Poems
1996	Hayden Carruth	Scrambled Eggs & Whiskey: Poems, 1991–1995
1995	Stanley Kunitz	Passing Through: The Later Poems, New and Selected
1994	James Tate	The Worshipful Company of Fletchers: Poems
1993	A. R. Ammons	Garbage
1992	Mary Oliver	New and Selected Poems (vol 1 of two)
1991	Philip Levine	What Work Is
	Andrew Hudgins	The Never-Ending
	Linda McCarriston	Eva-Mary
	Adrienne Rich	An Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems 1988-1991
	Marilyn Nelson Waniek	The Homeplace: Poems
1990
1989
1988
1987	The Poetry award and many others were eliminated from the program when it was revamped in 1984. It was restored in 1991, now for current-year publications, with a standard five finalists announced a few weeks prior to the main event.
1986
1985
1984
1980–83[18]
1983 [lower-alpha 1]	Charles Wright	Country Music: Selected Early Poems
1983	Galway Kinnell	Selected Poems
1982	William Bronk	Life Supports: New and Collected Poems
1981	Lisel Mueller	The Need to Hold Still: Poems
1980	Philip Levine	Ashes: Poems New and Old
1970–79[19]
1979	James Merrill	Mirabell: Books of Number
1978	Howard Nemerov	The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov
1977	Richard Eberhart	Collected Poems, 1930-1976: including 43 new poems
1976	John Ashbery	Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror
1975	Marilyn Hacker	Presentation Piece
1974 [lower-alpha 1]	Adrienne Rich	Diving into the Wreck: Poems, 1971-1972
1974	Allen Ginsberg	The Fall of America: Poems of These States, 1965-1971
1973	A. R. Ammons	Collected Poems, 1951-1971
1972 [lower-alpha 1]	Howard Moss	Selected Poems
1972	Frank O'Hara	The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara (posth.)
1971	Mona Van Duyn	To See, To Take: Poems
1970	Elizabeth Bishop	The Complete Poems
1960–69[20]
1969	John Berryman	His Toy, His Dream, His Rest
1968	Robert Bly	The Light Around the Body
1967	James Merrill	Nights and Days
1966	James Dickey	Buckdancer's Choice: Poems
1965	Theodore Roethke	The Far Field (posth.)
1964	John Crowe Ransom	Selected Poems
1963	William Stafford	Traveling Through the Dark
1962	Alan Dugan	Poems (vol 1 of seven)
1961	Randall Jarrell	The Woman at the Washington Zoo: Poems and Translations
1960	Robert Lowell	Life Studies
1950–59[21]
1959	Theodore Roethke	Words for the Wind: Poems of Theodore Roethke
1958	Robert Penn Warren	Promises: Poems, 1954-1956
1957	Richard Wilbur	Things of This World
1956	W. H. Auden	The Shield of Achilles
1955	Wallace Stevens	The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens
1954	Conrad Aiken	Collected Poems
1953	Archibald MacLeish	Collected Poems, 1917-1952
1952	Marianne Moore	Collected Poems
1951	Wallace Stevens	The Auroras of Autumn
1950	William Carlos Williams	Paterson: Book Three and Selected Poems (two books)[22]
	No runners up.[22][23]

Repeat winners

See Winners of multiple U.S. National Book Awards

See also

• Poetry of the United States
• List of poetry awards
• List of years in poetry

Notes

1. The Poetry panels split the 1972, 1974, and 1983 awards. Split awards have been prohibited continuously from 1984 (and the same reform eliminated the Poetry category, restored 1992).

References

1. "History of the National Book Awards". National Book Foundation (NBF): About Us. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
2. "How the National Book Awards Work". NBF: Awards. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
3. "National Book Award Winners: 1950 – 2009". NBF: Awards. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
4. "National Book Award Selection Process". NBF: Awards. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
5. "Frequently Asked Questions". NBF: About Us. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
6. "National Book Awards – 2010". NBF. Retrieved 2012-04-01. (Select 2010 or a later year from the top left menu.)
7. "2015 National Book Awards". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
8. Alter, Alexandra (19 November 2015). "Ta-Nehisi Coates Wins National Book Award". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
9. Alex Shephard (October 15, 2014). "National Book Awards shortlists announced". Melville House Publishing. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
10. Alter, Alexandra (November 19, 2014). "National Book Award Goes to Phil Klay for His Short Story Collection". The New York Times. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
11. "2013 National Book Award Finalists Announced". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2013-10-21.
12. "2013 National Book Awards". NBF. Retrieved 2013-10-21.
13. "National Book Award Finalists Announced Today". Library Journal. October 10, 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
14. "2012 National Book Awards Go to Erdrich, Boo, Ferry, Alexander". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
15. Leslie Kaufman (November 14, 2012). "Novel About Racial Injustice Wins National Book Award". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
16. "National Book Awards – 2000". NBF. Retrieved 2012-04-01. (Select 2000 to 2009 from the top left menu.)
17. "National Book Awards – 1990". NBF. Retrieved 2012-04-01. (Select 1990 to 1999 from the top left menu.)
18. "National Book Awards – 1980". NBF. Retrieved 2012-04-01. (Select 1980 to 1983 from the top left menu.)
19. "National Book Awards – 1970". NBF. Retrieved 2012-04-01. (Select 1970 to 1979 from the top left menu.)
20. "National Book Awards – 1960". NBF. Retrieved 2012-04-01. (Select 1960 to 1969 from the top left menu.)
21. "National Book Awards – 1950". NBF. Retrieved 2012-04-01. (Select 1950 to 1959 from the top left menu.)
22. "National Book Awards – 1950". NBF. Retrieved 2012-02-25.
    (With essays by Neil Baldwin and Ross Gay from the Awards 50-year print publication(?) and 60-year anniversary blog. Baldwin covers the award-sharing book: "The edition of the Selected Poems brought out in 1949 has of necessity over the past half-century been emended and expanded many times. ...")
23. At the first awards dinner in the currently recognized series, there were five honorable mentions announced in the non-fiction category only.
    • "Book Publishers Make 3 Awards: ... Gold Plaques", The New York Times, March 17, 1950, page 21.