| Year | Title | Publisher | Prize Amount | Judge |
| 2000 | Carolina Ghost Woods | Louisiana State University Press | $5,000 | James Tate |
Born in 1961, Judy Jordan grew up on a small farm near the border between the Carolinas. Her parents were sharecroppers, and Jordan was the first member of her family to attend college, receiving a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia in 1990. In 1995, she went on to earn a master’s degree in poetry at the same school.