Literary award · United States · since 1986

Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize

American poetry award (1986–). Established 1986 in United States.

About Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize

The Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize is awarded annually by The Poetry Foundation, which also publishes Poetry magazine. The prize was established in 1986 by Ruth Lilly. It honors a living U.S. poet whose "lifetime accomplishments warrant extraordinary recognition"; its value is $100,000 making it one of the richest literary prizes in the world. Mary Carole McCauley, writing for the Los Angeles Times, called it "among the most prestigious awards that can be won by an American poet".

From the Wikipedia article “Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Recent winners

YearWinnerWinning work
2024Li-Young Lee—
2023Kimiko Hahn—
2022Juan Felipe Herrera—
2022CAConrad—
2022Sharon Olds—
2022Sonia Sanchez—
2022Nikki Giovanni—
2022Sandra Cisneros—
2022Rita Dove—
2022Angela Jackson—
2022Arthur Sze—
2022Patti Smith—
2022Haki R. Madhubuti—
2021Patricia Smith—
2020Marilyn Chin—

From Wikidata; the list may be incomplete for some years.

Eligibility and entering

Check the official rules of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize 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.

Sources & data