We’re pleased to publish poems by the 2016 University & College Poetry Prize winners. Established in 1955, the University and College Poetry Prize program began with ten schools. Today, the Academy of American Poets sponsors over two hundred annual poetry prizes at colleges and universities across the U.S. Many of America's most esteemed poets won their first recognition through the University and College Poetry Prize program, including Louise Glück, Sylvia Plath, Mark Strand, and Charles Wright.
Paulina Adams, “my coat”
University of Michigan (undergraduate)
Academy of American Poets Prize
Mike Alberti, “Elegy (Robe)”
University of Minnesota
James Wright Prize in Poetry
Emily Alexander, "Night, Night"
University of Idaho
Academy of American Poets Prize
Kristy Alinoski, “Punctuation”
Keystone College
Edward M. Cameron IV Poetry Prize
Sophia Apodaca, "Coming Out to My Mother”
California State University, Northridge
George Dillon Memorial Award
Jose Araguz, “Blade”
University of Cincinnati (graduate)
Academy of American Poets Prize
Tamar Ashdot, “Social Media Has Not Adjusted to Your Mortality”
SUNY Binghamton
Prize Name: Academy of American Poets Prize
Sanah Athar, "Citizen, speaks English"
Drew University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Arielle Ballard, “Indigofera”
Brandeis University
The Ramon Feliciano Poetry Prize
Taneum Bambrick, "Reservoir (V.)"
University of Arizona
Academy of American Poets Prize
Clara Barnhart, “We Were Always the Good”
SUNY Binghamton
Prize Name: Academy of American Poets Prize
Justin Beaudrot, "Last Night"
Georgetown University
Ora Mary Phelam Poetry Prize
Erin Bertram, “Documentary Studies”
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Wilbur Gaffney Poetry Prize
Maria Victoria Biancardi, “Night Sail, Flood Warnings”
Miami-Dade Community College
Fred Shaw Poetry Prize
Bronte Billings, “Failed Renovations”
Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts
Prize Name: Academy of American Poets Prize
Ryan Bollenbach, "Blue"
University of Alabama
Hill-Kohn Prize
Tara Borgilt, "Separation"
Reed College
The Mary Barnard Academy of American Poets Prize
Katy Boyer, "Narcissus on the Banks of the Haw"
Randolph-Macon Woman’s College
Charles and Fanny Fay Wood Poetry Prize
Emily Bradford, “The Wasp”
University of Richmond
Academy of American Poets Prize
Courtney Brown, “on the bright white occasion of a second coming; or, in anticipation of spring”
Rice University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Victoria Bruick, “The Low End of a High Rise”
Valparaiso University
Vivian S. Richards Memorial Prize
Max Brumberg-Kraus, “Fag Hammadi”
Beloit College
Beloit Poetry Journal Prize
Kaydra Bui, "Unsung"
Bradley University
Sipple Poetry Prize
Ericka Buitenhuis, “In Time”
Calvin College
Academy of American Poets Prize
Ian Burnette, “On leaving”
Kenyon College
Academy of American Poets Prize
Savanah Burns, “Starry Night”
Sam Houston State University
The William C. Weathers Memorial Prize
Carolyn Canulette, “cadence/articulation/awake”
Tulane University
Anselle M. Larson / Academy of American Poets Prize
Edward Jesse Capobianco, “//”
George Mason University
The Joseph A. Lohman III Poetry Prize
Hannah Carl, “the edge of downtown near the student housing”
Brooklyn College, CUNY
Burton A. Goldberg Poetry Prize
Malek Charchour, “Afrukhe”
Hartwick College
Anna Sonder Prize
Joy Chee, “Everything Causes Cancer”
Tufts University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Jesse Chen, “Odyssey”
Johns Hopkins University
The Laureen Rita Schipsi Poetry Prize
Hedgie Choi, “I can't stand people who write about themselves but clearly you are not me”
Yonsei University / Underwood International College
Academy of American Poets Prize
Dan Chu, “Unexplainable Economics”
University of Houston
Brazos Bookstore/ Academy of American Poets Prize
Robert Cipriano, “Bag O' Donuts”
Cooper Union
Elizabeth Kray Prize
Tiana Clark, “Soil Horizon”
Vanderbilt University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Donte Collins, "what the dead know by heart"
Augsburg College
John R. Mitchell Academy of American Poets Prize
Micah Collins-Sibley, “Southbound II”
Smith College
Anne Bradstreet Prize
Alexandra Comeaux, "The Community Pool"
Arizona State University
Katharine C. Turner Prize
Emma Comery, “Daydream Memory”
Centre College
Paul Cantrell Poetry Prize
Hannah Conway, “Haircuts”
Loyola University of Chicago
Dr. Frank C. Lawler Poetry Prize
Cortney Cordero, “Rubik”
Hofstra University
Nancy P. Schnader Award
Ally Covino, “Portrait of Dotty as an Elton John Song”
University of Texas at Austin
Andrew Julius Gutow Poetry Prize
Reilly Cox, “My Sister by the Inner Harbor”
Washington College
The Jude and Miriam Pfister Poetry Prize
Kimberly Cunningham, “The Sins of our Fathers”
San Jose State University
Virginia de Araujo Prize
Julian Daley, “Arabian Nights”
SUNY Oswego
Academy of American Poets Prize
Kristina Marie Darling, “Godspeed”
SUNY Buffalo
Dan Liberthson Poetry Prize
Sarah Darwiche, "little party"
Duke University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach, “Out of Stone”
University of Pennsylvania
William Carlos Williams Prize
Rachel Davis, “Ontogenesis”
University of Utah
Craig Arnold Memorial Poetry Prize
Samantha Davis, “Stag”
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The Anne Williams Burrus Prize in Poetry
Jonah Dorrance Dementia, “Patients at Joshua Tree”
University of San Francisco
Academy of American Poets Prize
Darnell DePriest, Jr., "Pinned Up"
Marietta College
The Stephen Schwartz Prize in Poetry
Emily Dhatt, “We Will Find It (Manifesto)”
Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech/ Poetry Society of Virginia Prize
Emma Ditzel, “Benevolence, Georgia”
Loyola University Maryland
Academy of American Poets Prize
Zachary Drees, “Closets”
University of Nebraska, MFA
Helen W. Kenefick Poetry Prize
Nate Duke, "Unlike Conquest"
University of Montana
Academy of American Poets Prize
Alexandra Dunn, “No Country for Old Men”
Shippensburg University
Laura A. Rice Poetry Prize
Rachel Edelman, “Cascadia Recurrence Interval”
University of Washington
Harold Taylor Prize
Anna Egeland, “951 Forest Rd.”
Wellesley College
Nevin Prize
Maya Elliott, “Witchblood: A Fantasy”
Grinnell College
Prize in Memory of Lorabel Richardson
Elizabeth Ensink, “The Effect of a Sestina on Field Notes”
Hope College
Academy of American Poets Prize
William Fargason, “Aubade with Barbed Wire”
Florida State University (graduate)
Academy of American Poets Prize
David Feinstein, “Sway”
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Joseph Langland Prize
Erin Fetters, “A Poem for my Grandmothers”
Muskingum College
Beulah Brooks Brown Award in Poetry
Meghan Flaherty, “Fish Head”
New Jersey City University
The Walter Glospie Academy of American Poets Prize
Shannon Francis, "The Wolf"
Pennsylvania State University
Leonard Steinberg Memorial Prize
Patrick Fox, “Productivity”
Wilson College
The William and Ivy Saylor Prize
Sedey Gebreyes, “January 2016, Addis Aba', Ethiopia”
The City College of San Francisco
The Felicia Farr Lemon Poetry Prize
Greta Ginter, “Fat Girls Don't Get Husbands”
Central Michigan University
Eric Torgersen Poetry Prize
Rachel Girty, “Unstill Life”
Northwestern University
Jean Meyer Aloe Poetry Prize
Tyler Goldman, “Birdsong”
University of Maryland, College Park
Prize in Memory of Anaïs Nin
Cassie Gordon, “The Future”
Elizabethtown College
The Raymond and Mausolene Stouffer Prize
Molly Gorelick, "Dog spelled backwards is God"
Dickinson College
Academy of American Poets Prize
Audrey Gradzewicz, “A Brief History of Grief”
Purdue University
The Thomas H. Scholl and Elizabeth Boyd Thompson Poetry Prize
Lindsay Granduke, “vaulting up”
Rollins College
Arden Goettling / Academy of American Poets Prize
Jan-Henry Gray, “Maid Poem #7: HR”
Columbia College Chicago
Eileen Lannan Poetry Prize
Michael McKee Green, "A Remit"
Portland State University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Vanessa Hamill, “Ten Women, Ten Colors”
San Francisco State University (undergraduate)
Academy of American Poets Piri Thomas Poetry Prize
Sarah Hansen, “Detour”
University of Mary Washington
Academy of American Poets Prize
Brooke Harries, “a short list of facts”
San Francisco State University
Harold Taylor Prize
Zachary Hatfield, "Wisdom"
University of Cincinnati (undergraduate)
Academy of American Poets Prize
Amy Lee Heinlen, “Light, Blue”
Chatham College
The Laurie Mansell Reich Poetry Prize
Ariel Francisco, “Before Snowfall”
Florida International University
Christopher F. Kelly Award for Poetry
David Hernandez, "Vigesimal"
University of California, Berkeley
Harold Taylor Prize
Peter Hogan, “Physics”
University of Memphis
The Deborah L. Talbot Poetry Award
Sheila Huang, “Portrait of Fortune”
New York University
Judith Lobel Arkin Poetry Prize
Mathews Huey, "When I Say Fireworks"
Columbia University (graduate)
Bennett Poetry Prize
T. Luke Huffman, “Bells Which Will Not Ring”
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Noel Callow Poetry Award
Su Hwang, “Latchkeys”
University of Minnesota
James Wright Prize in Poetry
Emma Hyche, "Pyrite"
Auburn University
Robert Hughes Mount Jr. Prize in Poetry
Emily Jaeger, “Palmyra's Arch of Triumph”
University of Massachusetts, Boston
Harold Taylor Prize
Marcus Jamison, “Break”
Old Dominion University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Denise Jarrott, “Stone-cipher”
Colorado State University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Savonna Johnson, “Death of the Yucca Fruit or Cervical Cancer”
University of Miami
Alfred Boas Poetry Prize
Atiya Jordan, “young warrior”
Wells College
Catharine B. De Pau Poetry Prize
Nadija Kadunic, “Tomasica"
Aquinas College
Academy of American Poets Prize
Kathryn Kaelin, “synapses”
Yale University
Sean T. Lannan Poetry Prize
Mia Kang, "Ark"
Hunter College
Catalina Páez & Seumas MacManus Award
Dylan Karlsson, “Fruit for Vacancy”
University of California, Los Angeles
Fred and Edith Herman Memorial Prize
Stefan Karlsson, “Shards of the Nautilus Shell”
University of California, Irvine
Academy of American Poets Prize
Natalie Kawam, “The Pulse”
Bryn Mawr College
Prize in Memory of Marie Bullock
Heather Anna Keeler, “Pool Party”
Rollins College
Arden Goettling / Academy of American Poets Prize
Caitlin Kelly, “Only Accessible By Two Wheels”
St. Lawrence University
James Ligon Price III Memorial Prize in Poetry
Natasha King, “he thinks I'm sleeping but I'm not”
College of William & Mary
Academy of American Poets Prize
Janna Knittel, “A History of Shaving”
University of Minnesota
James Wright Prize in Poetry
Kayla Krut, “Female Figure”
University of Michigan (graduate)
Academy of American Poets Prize
Noah Kucij, “The Belt”
SUNY Albany
Phyllis Hurd Liston Poetry Prize
Joshua Kurtz, "Untitled, 1970"
Brown University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Nathaniel Lamers, “Eighteen”
Lewis & Clark College
Academy of American Poets Prize
Michael Landreth, “Abecedarian for Lion King”
University of Idaho
Academy of American Poets Prize
Ae Hee Lee, “On Not Healing the Blind”
University of Notre Dame
The Billy Maich Award
Ethan Lee, "Nina's Voice"
Lynchburg College
Miriam T. and Jude M. Pfister Poetry Prize
June Lei, “Brooklyn Museum”
Bowdoin College
The Academy of American Poets Colette Inez Poetry Prize
Grace Li, “Spreading gooseberry (Ribes divaricatum)”
Rutgers University
Enid Dame Memorial Poetry Prize
Rebecca Liberatore, “Night Roulette”
California Polytechnic State University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Victoria Luizzi , "Cabo Blanco"
Amherst College
Academy of American Poets Prize
Hayley Major, “gods who taste”
Piedmont College
Prize Name: Academy of American Poets Prize
Hannah Malik, “Bathtub”
Westminster College
Anne Newman Sutton Weeks Prize
Ashley Mallick, “I knew my mother was god when I was five”
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (undergraduate)
Academy of American Poets Prize
Avery Malone, "Leaving"
University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
The Colleen M. Brown Prize
Louis Maraj, “Monkey on Down”
Ohio State University
Prize Name: Arthur Rense Prize
Marie Marandola, “Poet Groupie”
Sarah Lawrence College (graduate)
The John B. Santoianni Award for Excellence in Poetry
Claire Martin, “Lakehouse”
Creighton University
Oscar M. Macelliao Poetry Prize
Gwendolyn Mauroner, “Sweet”
Oregon State University
Weaver Undergraduate Poetry Award
Charlotte McCash, “Stop and Rest”
Messiah College
Carrie A. Guhl Poetry Prize
Ali McClain, “Kinsman”
Cleveland State University
Alberta Turner Poetry Prize
Layne McClure, “Gasoline Night”
Harrisburg Area Community College
Dale T. Guhl Memorial Prize
Grace McGovern, “Roadkill”
Illinois Wesleyan University
Arthur W. Hinners & Louise Hinners Sipfle Prize
Kourtnie McKenzie, “The Way Her Mother Left”
California State University, Fresno (graduate)
Ernesto Trejo Memorial Prize
Rita Mezic, “Riptide”
SUNY Farmingdale
Raynor Wallace Poetry Award
Francesca Miller, “Pomology”
Shimer College
Ruth Cooley Poetry Prize
Jacob Minasian, “Wine Country”
Saint Mary’s College of California
Russell & Yvonne Lannan Poetry Prize
Jessica Morey-Collins, "Your Title Could Be Doing A lot More"
University of New Orleans
Andrea Saunders Gereighty Poetry Award
Matt Morgenstern, “Ode to Love"
Miami University (undergraduate)
Prize Name: Harris S. Abrahams Poetry Prize
Shane Moritz, “A Circle Gathers Around a Fallen Dope”
Georgia College & State University
Frankye Davis Mayes Prize
Dianna Moses, “A Letter to the Old Me”
Northwest Indian College
The Betty and Norman Lockwood Poetry Prize
Juliet Mueller, “Things Don't Always Lie Where They Fall”
Pace University
David A. Bickimer—Promise of Learnings Poetry Prize
Madeleine Murphy, "Shoo-fly"
Millersville University
Louis Darrell Sage Poetry Prize
Sade Murphy, “Entry 098&/or Monday Night Before Thanksgiving or//Venus & Mars in Libra”
Pratt Institute
Academy of American Poets Prize
Emma Murray, “Pussy”
Oklahoma State University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Delaney Nolan, “Twin”
University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop
Harold Taylor Prize
Daniel Nord, “Sex According to a Hoover Owner's Manual”
Rockford University
Colleen Holmbeck Poetry Prize
Megan O'Keefe, “Bunker”
Wellesley College
Nevin Prize
Alegra Padron, “Powder-Blue Kim and Long Cat Strike a Deal Outside Gingerbread and Bird Trap”
Florida State University (undergraduate)
John MacKay Shaw Award
Alissa Pagano, “Postcard Sestina”
Stetson University
The Holly M. Kimball Poetry Prize
Delia Pepper, “Flight”
Franklin & Marshall College
Academy of American Poets Prize
Isaac Pickell, “Quadroon”
Miami University (graduate)
Betty Jane Abrahams Memorial Poetry Prize
Meghann Plunkett, “Researchers Find The Father's DNA Stays in the Brains of Impregnated Women, Even Those Who Don't Carry to Term”
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (graduate)
Academy of American Poets Prize
Katherine Pyne-Jaeger, “Prose Poem: after I Do Not Know What a Painting Does and Numbers, Patterns, Movements and Being”
California State University, Los Angeles
Henri Coulette Memorial Award
Kathleen Radigan, “Free Chair”
Wesleyan University
Sarah Hannah Memorial Prize
Bartika Rai, “Wildflowers”
Wesleyan College
George Warren Gignilliat, Jr. Poetry Prize
Franci Revel, “Pasture”
Bennington College
The Green Prize for Poetry
Hannah Riccardi, “When My Mother Rages”
California State University, Fresno (undergraduate)
Larry Levis Memorial Prize
Peter Rosenberger, “Chrysalis”
Gettysburg College
Marion Zulauf Prize
Rachel Rubino, "Lady of the Equinox"
Lafayette College
Jean E. Corrie Poetry Prize
Christina Rueth, “The Pearls of a Company Man”
Cornell College
Prize in Memory of Clyde and Jewell Bothwell Tull
Shakoora Sabree, "Three Spoonfuls of Brown Sugar"
Agnes Scott College
Janef Preston Poetry Prize
Marty Saunders, "Boarding an Overnight Bus — La Paz, Bolivia"
North Carolina State University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Caroline Schmidt, “Reflection”
Emory University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Rachel Schmieder-Gropen, “On Collier's Sleeping Beauty”
Mount Holyoke College
Gertrude Claytor Poetry Prize
Siggi Schroth, "Almost Every Single Thing I Remember from My Childhood"
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Ruth Llewellyn Baird Prize
Smita Sen, “Emerge”
Columbia University (undergraduate)
Academy of American Poets Prize
Laith Sersain, “Etiological Tale”
College of Wooster
Cora Owlett Latzer Award
Aimee Seu, "17"
Temple University
Albert J. Caplan Prize
Robert Shapiro, “Ram's Head with Hollyhock, 1935”
University of Virginia
Academy of American Poets Prize
Robert Sheehan, “Red Dress”
University of Delaware
Harold Taylor Prize
Sidney Taiko Sheehan, “Rehearsal Dinner, a Room Full of Hagiharas”
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Edward W. Ryan Poetry Prize
Gabriel Simon, "All the Breakfasts in November"
George Washington University
A. E. Claeyssens, Jr. Poetry Prize
Alexa Sims, "Dream of Bohemia"
Georgia College & State University
Frankye Davis Mayes Prize
Kelsey Sipple, “Humpback Whale Tail, Greenstone”
Dartmouth College
Academy of American Poets Prize
Melanie Sirof, “If Ophelia”
Hofstra University
Nancy P. Schnader Award
Molly Sowash, “Threnody”
Macalester College
Academy of American Poets Prize
Shelli Spotts, “Blue #1”
Brigham Young University
Ethel Lowry Handley Poetry Prize
Sophie Strand, "First Ode"
Bard College
The Flow Chart Foundation/Academy of American Poets Prize
Jacquelyn Sutton, "When My Daughter Didn't Come Home"
Valdosta State University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Lauren Swift, “pilgrimage”
University of California, Davis
Celeste Turner Wright Poetry Prize
Randall Taylor, “Vermillion Bird”
Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus
John & Agnes McCarten Memorial Award
Halie Theoharides, “Lying in the Dark for the Earthquake”
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Joseph Langland Prize
Tyler Tsay, “poem to the mirror”
Williams College
Bullock Poetry Prize
Emily Tu, “Litany”
Princeton University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Emperatriz Ung, “All in the Screen”
Georgetown University
Ora Mary Phelam Poetry Prize
Shelley Valdez, “Engkanto”
Santa Clara University
Tamara Verga Poetry Prize
Meaghan Velten, “Pyro”
Bergen Community College
The Steven W. Chung Poetry Prize
Ian Von Fange, “Facts About Peacocks”
University of Rochester
Marion Devendorf Van Laak Poetry Prize
Chelsea Wagenaar, “The Spinning Place”
University of North Texas
Paul R. Voertman Prize
Paige Ward, "40 Year Plan"
United States Naval Academy
Stuart Pitt Memorial Poetry Prize
Arati Warrier, “Mumbai”
University of Texas at Austin
Andrew Julius Gutow Poetry Prize
Paige Webb, “Chapter in which an oculus opens”
Washington University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Mary Weingartener, “One of Those Days”
Central Pennsylvania College
Geraldine G. Britcher Poetry Prize
Natalie Welch, “Cherokee Canoe”
Spring Hill College
Reverend Andrew C. Smith, S.J., Poetry Prize
Shelley Whitaker, "Why I Get Quiet When the Cops Come"
Hollins University
Gertrude Claytor Poetry Prize
Elaine White, “How to Lie to Your Mother"
Old Dominion University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Brennon Williams, “Credo”
Washington & Lee University
Academy of American Poets Prize
Anna Wilson, “Trypophobia”
Indiana State University
The Madeline DeGaetano Memorial Poetry Prize
Maria Wilson, “Fooling Around with Joe Canewell's Daughter”
Pennsylvania State Harrisburg
Staff Sergeant Robert J. Miller Prize
Brian Windschitl, “metamorphosis”
SUNY Buffalo
The Academy of American Poets Prize
Patrick Winters, “Admission File #501”
Illinois College
Academy of American Poets Prize
Stella Wong, “[i wear these for]”
Harvard University
Academy of American Poets Prize
May Woollcott, “Blood Moon”
Trinity College
Academy of American Poets Prize
Alan Yeh, “Grandma Loves Duck”
Hamilton College
Ralph and Doris Hansmann Poetry Prize