We are excited to announce two changes to our distinguished Walt Whitman Award, making it the most valuable first-book award for poetry in the United States. In addition to $5,000, the winner of the 2015 award will now receive publication of his or her manuscript by Graywolf Press, an award-winning independent publisher, and an all-expenses-paid six-week residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center in Umbria, Italy.
Submissions for the 2015 Walt Whitman Award will be accepted online between September 1 and November 1, 2014, and Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Tracy K. Smith will judge.
