Poetry Magazine Awards

Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowships

Two Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowships are awarded through a national competition open to undergraduate and graduate students in creative writing or English who are enrolled in a university or college at the time of the application. Students must be American citizens under thirty years old and must not have published a collection of poetry or had one accepted for future publication.

Program directors or department chairs are invited to nominate one student-poet from their programs. All nominations must be accompanied by an official application form, along with samples of the candidate's work. Applications must be postmarked by April 15th.

In the special case of a young poet who is not currently enrolled in a university but who is independently pursuing a poetic career, nominations may be made by a teacher or colleague familiar with the poet's work. Please note: if you are enrolled in a university at the time of the application, you must be nominated by your program director. If you have completed a graduate program in creative writing, you are ineligible.

Complete rules for the next Fellowship competition and application forms will be available from the address below after January 1st or available for download by clicking here.

Each Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship is in the amount of $15,000, for use in further studies of poetry. The Fellowship winners will be announced early in the Fall. For further information contact:

The Ruth Lilly Fellowship Committee
c/o The Poetry Foundation
1030 North Clark Street, Suite 420
Chicago, Illinois 60610
(312) 787-7070