Announcing the 2018 winner of our Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry,
Owen McLeod
Dream Kitchen was chosen by Rosanna Warren
and will be published in April 2019
Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry Guidelines
The University of North Texas Press announces the 2019 Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry. The winner of this annual award will receive $1000 and publication by UNT Press. This year’s judge will be announced. To avoid conflicts of interest, current or former students of the judge should not enter.
Dates for submission: Manuscripts may be submitted between 9:00 a.m. on September 1 and 5:00 p.m. on October 31. The winning manuscript will be announced by March 2019.
We only accept electronic submissions. The $25 entry fee can be paid online via credit card or PayPal through Submittable.
Manuscript Guidelines:
- Please be sure manuscript pages are numbered.
- Please include a table of contents.
- Poems included in the submission may have appeared previously in magazines or anthologies but may not have been previously published in a book-length collection of the author’s own work.
- Authors may submit more than one manuscript to the competition for consideration as long as no material is duplicated between submissions. Each submission will require a separate entry fee.
- Manuscripts under consideration for this competition may be submitted elsewhere at the same time. Please withdraw your manuscript if it is accepted by another publisher and should no longer be considered for the Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry.
- Submit a 50- to 80-page manuscript. All pages indicating the poet's identity will be removed from the manuscript prior to forwarding to the final judge. The winning manuscript will be announced by March 2017 on the UNT Press website.
Begin the submission process here: Online Submissions
Previous Winners
The Goat Songs by James Najarian was our 2017 winner, selected by A. E. Stallings
Ornament by Anna Lena Phillips Bell was our 2016 winner, selected by Geoffrey Brock
Booker’s Point by Megan Grumbling was our 2015 winner, selected by Morri Creech
Other Psalms by Jordan Windholz was our 2014 winner, selected by Averill Curdy.
In the Permanent Collection by Stefanie Wortman was our 2013 winner, selected by Chad Davidson.
Club Icarus by Matt Miller was our 2012 winner, selected by Major Jackson.
Death of a Ventriloquist by Gibson Fay-LeBlanc was our 2011 winner, selected by Lisa Russ Spaar.
Circles Where the Head Should Be by Caki Wilkinson was our 2010 winner, selected by J. D. McClatchy.
Stray Home by Amy M. Clark was our 2009 winner, selected by Beth Ann Fennelly.
Ohio Violence by Alison Stine was our 2008 winner, selected by Eric Pankey.
Mister Martini by Richard Carr was our 2007 winner, selected by Naomi Shihab Nye.
The Next Settlement by Michael Robins was our 2006 winner, selected by Anne Winters.
Re-Entry by Michael White was our 2005 winner, selected by Paul Mariani.
The Black Beach by J. T. Barbarese was our 2004 winner, selected by Andrew Hudgins.
Losing and Finding by Karen Fiser was our 2003 winner, selected by Lynne McMahon.
Bene-Dictions by Rush Rankin was our 2002 winner, selected by Rosanna Warren.
The Self as Constellation by Jeanine Hathaway was our 2001 winner, selected by Madeline DeFrees.
The Perseids by Karen Holmberg was our 2000 winner, selected by Sherod Santos.
A Protocol for Touch by Constance Merritt was our 1999 winner, selected by Eleanor Wilner.
MOVING & ST RAGE by Kathy Fagan was our 1998 winner, selected by T. R. Hummer.
Soul Data by Mark Svenvold was our 1997 winner, selected by Heather McHugh.
American Crawl by Paul Allen was our 1996 winner, selected by Sydney Lea.
The Sublime by Jonathan Holden was our 1995 winner, selected by Yusef Komunyakaa.
Delirium by Barbara Hamby was our 1994 winner, selected by Cynthia Macdonald.
Partial Eclipse by Tony Sanders was our 1993 winner, selected by Richard Howard.