National Book Award for Poetry

The National Book Award for Poetry is one of five 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". The judging panel is made up of five "writers who are known to be doing great work in their genre or field". The category for Poetry was established in 1950 and has been awarded annually apart from the period 1984 to 1990. The Poetry award and many others were eliminated from the program when it was revamped in 1984. It was restored in 1991, for current-year publications, with a standard five finalists announced a few weeks prior to the main event. The award recognizes one book written by a US citizen and published in the US from December 1 of the previous year to November 30 in the award year.

From the Wikipedia article “National Book Award for Poetry”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Check the official rules of the National Book Award for Poetry for the current eligibility window, accepted formats, residency or language requirements and any entry fee. For most established prizes the publisher submits on the author's behalf, often with a limit on entries per imprint.

If you are self-published, look for an explicit statement that independently published books are accepted, and budget for entry fees and copies for judges.